Swiss forward N'Kufo opened his account in the 10th minute and sealed the points from the penalty spot twenty minutes from time, as Twente started their campaign brimming with confidence from last season's impressive fourth-place Eredivise finish.

The visitors began much the livelier with N'Kufo, who scored 22 Eredivisie goals last season, causing problems from the outset.

His eighth-minute effort from the edge of the area was on target and needed a strong save from Excelsior goalkeeper Ronald Graafland, who parried for a corner.

And Twente should have taken the lead a minute later when captain Orlando Engelaar was allowed a free shot on goal following some suspect defending, but his tame effort arrowed straight into the keeper's hands.

But the Enschede club did not have to wait long for the breakthrough and in the 10th minute, Australian Luke Wilkshire played in a speculative ball into the box which evaded the Excelsior backline and found N'Kufo, who needed the simplest of headers to break the deadlock.

The hosts' chances were few and far between but they may well have levelled in the 24th minute when Feyenoord-loanee Jeffrey Altheer found himself through on goal, only to see Twente goalkeeper Sander Boschker rush out and intercept.

Wout Brama hit the post for Twente 10 minutes before the break with a stunning long-range effort, and Romano Denneboom struck the crossbar moments later, as the visitor's ended the half very much in the ascendancy.

The second half followed much of the same pattern with Excelsior's weak defence being caught out by Twente's lively forwards.

N'Kufo stuck the final nail in the coffin when he was fouled by Graafland in a goalmouth challenge and stroked home the spot kick himself.

Excelsior saved their best until the final minutes but when Tjeerd Korf played in Geert den Ouden with two minutes to spare but the striker fluffed his header and sent it disappointingly wide.