An ill-fated own goal from Daniel Agger and a late strike by Dirk Kuyt gave the Dutch their first win in South Africa.

Holland lead the group with three points as Cameroon take on Japan in the other game later on Monday.

Although they had most of the possession in the first half, Holland looked more likely to concede through Denmark's efficient counter attack.

Nicklas Bendtner sent a free header inches wide in the 26th minute, following a fine cross from Dennis Rommedahl.

The warning note was followed by two shots from Rommedahl and Christian Poulsen, forcing Maarten Stekelenburg to save in the Holland goal.

Lucky break

The Dutch were off to a perfect second-half start when they were gifted a fortunate goal after 30 seconds from the whistle.

Robin van Persie crossed into the six-yard box as Simon Poulsen tried to head clear, only for the ball to hit the body of Agger and go in off the post.

Denmark hardly replied to their trailing and the Dutch also didn’t seem to showing their usual slick football.

It was until the 85th minute when Kuyt put the game to bed, scoring in an empty after Elijero Elia had hit the post.

The Oranje seemed to have found their form by this point as Ibrahim Afellay almost added the third, but Simon Poulsen atoned for his earlier error and cleared off the line brilliantly.