Roda 3-4 Vitesse
Waalwijk 0-2 Den Haag
NEC 1-1 VVV Venlo
AZ 2-1 Willem II
Utrecht 2-0 Sparta
Feyenoord 1-1 Twente
NAC 2-0 Heerenveen
Groningen 0-2 PSV
Heracles 0-3 Ajax
After losing their opening game of the season, perhaps the pressure was removed from AZ's shoulders. However they've quickly found their groove, if not the swagger that saw them breeze to the title last season. They were ahead in Saturday's game at home to Willem II within seven minutes, Brett Holman reacting quickest following Mounir El Hamdaoui's airshot, volleying left footed past Maikal Aerts. Slack marking at a corner half way through the first half saw Sergio Zijler, but AZ were back in front within a minute, the Tilburgers unable to deal with a corner this time and Hector Moreno shooting on the turn for 2-1. Twente should probably have gone back ahead of AZ on Sunday when they took on Feyenoord at De Kuip. Though Sander Boschker was responsible for keeping Twente in it early on and Steve McClaren was sent to the stands early in the second half, Nicky Kuipers put the Enschede side in front with quarter of an hour left, lashing homoe from the edge of the box as a Twente attack threatened to break down. Into stoppage time, and Jonathan De Guzman was upended on the edge of the Twente box and he took the free-kick himself which was handled by a defender in the wall. Roy Makaay stepped up to take the penalty, sent Boschker the wrong way to make it 1-1. Twente will be vulnerable to that sort of thing while they're not getting more than one or two goals per game.
Ajax hammered Heracles in Almelo, eventually. A dull opening 45 remained goalless, but Ajax cut loose after the break, Demy de Zeeuw's free-kick forcing a corner from which Toby Alderweireld headed in off the underside of the bar. Two late goals - Dario Cvitanich and Ismail Aissati - put a gloss on the scoreline. Danny Koevermans was on target for both of PSV's goals as they eased past Groningen, his first a free header from six yards, the second a super volley across the goal and inside the far post. Utrecht are still unbeaten and won again, 2-0 at home to Sparta, and Ton du Chatinier's side are playing some really good football. With no real stars - even Cedric van der Gun has moved on - it's more the collective team approach which has paid dividends for Twente and AZ as they broke the Big Three's hegemony last season. Jacob Lensky stepped through the defence to slot home the opener just after the hour and Gregoor van Dijk's penalty made the game safe after Jacob Mulenga was brought down. They are going well, but the small squad may scupper their chances of European qualification.
Another draw for VVV and, yes, Keisuke Honda was awesome again, setting up Sandro Calabro for the opener away at NEC. Ramon Zomer equalised in the second half making it five straight draws for the newcomers. Heerenveen's tough start to the season continued with defeat in Breda, Kees Kwakman and Matthew Amoah with two goals in the space of three second half minutes. Waalwijk are still without a win after Friday's defeat to Den Haag for whom Bogdan Milic and Wesley Verhoek struck either side of half-time. Vitesse are off the mark after coming from behind in Kerkrade. Vitesse were in front inside a minute through Lasse Nilsson and, though Mads Junker equalised, they went in ahead at half-time thanks to Nicky Hofs. A Franck van der Struijk own goal and Anouar Hadouir put Roda ahead with half an hour to go, but Sinan Kaloglu equalised on 75 minutes and a late, late winner from Santi Kolk ended a breathless game.
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