Soccer-Losing start for Feyenoord coach Van Bronckhorst

AMSTERDAM, May 21 (Reuters) - Heerenveen and Vitesse Arnhem secured narrow wins in the Dutch league playoff first leg's on Thursday as new Feyenoord coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst made a losing start as the club's manager. Simon Thern scored a 83rd minute winner for hosts Heerenveen to defeat Feyenoord 1-0 while Vitesse Arnhem came from a goal down to win 2-1 at PEC Zwolle. Maikel van der Werff's effort after 31 minutes had given PEC the halftime lead but Marko Vejinovic and Valeri Qazaishvili scored twice in a six minute spell after the break. The return legs -- competed between sides finishing from fourth to seventh in the regular season -- are on Sunday with the winner advancing to a final tie to decide one of the Netherlands' slots in next season's Europa League. Feyenoord's failure to finish third, and grab an automatic Europa League slot, saw coach Fred Rutten removed and replaced by former Arsenal and Barcelona defender Van Bronckhorst -- who won 106 caps for the Netherlands. Feyenoord, who finished fourth, have failed to win any of their previous six matches in a dramatic end-of-season slump. (Reporting by Mark Gleeson; Editing by Tom Hayward)