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  • Monday 10 August 2009

    Suarez hits three as Ajax go top: Eredivisie reviews

    NEC 4-1 Heerenveen
    AZ 2-0 Sparta
    Ajax 4-1 Waalwijk
    Roda 1-1 Groningen
    Vitesse 0-0 Feyenoord
    NAC 0-0 Heracles
    Twente 1-1 PSV
    Utrecht 1-0 Willem II
    VVV Venlo 2-2 Den Haag

    Game of the week in the Eredivisie was probably the clash between Den Haag and VVV in Venlo where the visitors ran in to an early 2-0 lead. Wesley Verhoek and a Ricky van den Bergh penalty put Den Haag into a bit of a comfort zone, but up stepped the exciting Keisuke Honda. He pulled one back with a blistering drive from 25 yards out and claimed a controversial second quarter of an hour from time, the ball not appearing to have crossed the line. By that time, ADO were down to ten after Karim Soltani had been sent off and they'd finish with just nine, van den Bergh also sent off five minutes from time.

    Fred Rutten was back in Enschede with PSV as two of the title favourites clashed. Douglas was a menace at set pieces and headed Twente ahead, but the lead lasted just five minutes when Balazs Dzsudzsak equalised, a daisy-cutter somehow squirming from Sander Boschker's grasp. Twente look pretty well equipped with Ronnie Stam and Costa Rican Brian Ruiz prominent, but they couldn't force a winner. Luis Suarez hit a 20-minute hat-trick for Ajax as they stuffed Waalwijk. Gregory van der Wiel put them ahead early on with Benjamin de Cuelaer equalising on the half hour. Suarez struck from the spot with 19 minutes to go to restore the lead after Wouter Gudde was sent off and added two more, the third coming deep in injury time, before the final whistle as Ajax went top. AZ got their campaign off and running with a straightforward win over Sparta on Friday night. Moussa Dembele put them ahead early on and strike partner Mounir El Hamdaoui made it two in the second half.

    NEC were big winners, also on Friday, belting Heerenveen at De Goffert. Bjorn Vleminckx scored twice, the first and fourth, as the Nijmegeners ran into a four-goal lead before Michael Papadopoulos grabbed a consolation. Erton Fejzullahu and Youssed El Akchaoui were NEC's other scorers. Utrecht are the only side other than Ajax with a 100% record as they beat last week's big winners Willem II at the Galgenwaard. Ghanaian defender Francis Dickoh got the only goal of the game in the first half.

    Draws were the order of the day elsewhere as Vitesse and Feyenoord and NAC and Heracles couldn't muster a goal between them. At least Roda and Groningen could find the net, Goran Lovre equalising for the visitors after Anouar Hadouir's opener.

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