Raheem Sterling was granted a work permit last week, after which manager Robin van Persie confirmed in the pre-game press conference that the English international would debut for Feyenoord in Sunday evening's home game against Telstar.
With the former Manchester City winger on the bench, Feyenoord piled on the pressure early with attempts from Luciano Valente, Tsuyoshi Watanabe, Anel Ahmedhodzic, and Jordan Bos, all of whom failed to give Feyenoord the lead in the opening 20 minutes.
Japanese top scorer Ayase Ueda got close one more time before Telstar shockingly opened the scoring in De Kuip via Jochem Ritmeester van de Kamp, who outplayed two defenders before beating Timon Wellenreuther with a placed shot in the bottom corner.
The hosts were given a penalty not long after Ritmeester van de Kamp's goal, but it was ruled out by the VAR for offside.
Nevertheless, Feyenoord got back alongside Telstar before half-time through Anis Hadj Moussa, whose effort was tapped into Telstar's goal by goalkeeper Ronald Koeman.
After another strong ten minutes and a brilliant save from Wellenreuther on an effort from Nokkvi Thorisson, Hadj Moussa gave Feyenoord their first lead of the evening by beating Koeman with a cross-body shot in the 39th minute.
Sterling debuts
Feyenoord's lead survived through half-time and was nearly doubled after half-time through Ueda and Jakub Moder, but the score remained 2-1 at the hour mark.
That's when Raheem Sterling made his entry in De Kuip to the sound of a roaring Rotterdam crowd, who welcomed the 82-time English international with open arms.
Feyenoord's second half was less than convincing, with only Casper Tengstedt trying his luck in the final thirty minutes.
Without recording a shot in the first 40 minutes of the second half, Telstar threatened to level the score in the final minutes of the game via Tyrese Noslin, who fired his first shot wide and had a header in injury time saved by Timon Wellenreuther, who single-handedly won Feyenoord the game with an excellent reflex, and Jelani Seedorf's rebound blocked by three Feyenoord defenders.
The 2-1 win over Telstar gave Feyenoord a healthy 5-point lead over NEC and Ajax, whose 1-1 draw on Saturday evening proved costly in the fight for second place.
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