A late penalty from Willy Overtoom earned Heracles Almelo a narrow win over FC Utrecht and gave Peter Bosz's men a little breathing space from the Eredivisie relegation zone.

After Ricky van Wolfswinkel had missed a penalty for the visitors, Heracles took the lead through Alje Schut's own goal.

Tim Cornelisse replied and that looked to have claimed a point for Utrecht until Overtoom's spot-kick eight minutes from time.

Heracles made a confident start at the Polman Stadion and Overtoom came close to opening the scoring after just six minutes, but his 16-yard strike was tipped over the crossbar by Michel Vorm.

The Utrecht goalkeeper was called upon again on the half-hour mark, getting his hands to a header from Darl Douglas with the unmarked striker aiming to convert a cross from Mark Looms.

And the home side were denied again three minutes later when Vorm palmed away Mark-Jan Fledderus' drive from distance which had been heading for the top right corner.

Utrecht had barely had a look-in during the first half, but were gifted the chance to go ahead six minutes after the interval when Heracles midfielder Kwame Quansah was penalised for a handball in the area.

Van Wolfswinkel took the resulting spot-kick but put his effort over the crossbar.

The visitors were hit even harder after 54 minutes when Schut headed a cross from Douglas into his own net from a few yards out to give Heracles the advantage.

Cornelisse eventually made the breakthrough for Utrecht with their equaliser after 72 minutes, slotting Dries Mertens' assist into the bottom right corner.

But Heracles pushed hard for a winner and were rewarded eight minutes from time, with Overtoom scoring from the spot after Cornelisse's foul on Birger Maertens.