Headlines

  • Monday 14 December 2009

    Top two march on: Eredivisie reviews

    Ajax 3-0 NEC
    VVV Venlo 3-0 Waalwijk
    Heerenveen 0-2 Feyenoord
    Twente 3-1 NAC
    PSV 1-0 AZ
    Den Haag 1-4 Heracles
    Vitesse 2-2 Utrecht
    Willem II 1-3 Roda
    Sparta 2-4 Groningen

    When oh when oh when will Twente or PSV start dropping points? No time soon as it looks at the moment. Both were winners yet again at the weekend and both look unstoppable. Miroslav Stoch is in sensational form and pretty much ran the show against NAC. He caused Breda problems from the off and it was just a matter of time as to when Twente would translate that dominance on the field onto the scoreboard. And yet they did have to come from behind. Stoch had a free-kick spectacularly saved by Jelle ten Rouwelaar and the Slovakian winger played in Blaise N'Kufo only for the big Swiss to be pulled down by Rob Penders. N'Kufo's penalty was weak though and ten Rouwelaar saved again. Just before the break, NAC finally broke away and Edwin de Graaf sprinted up the wing, cut along the byline and fired in from a tight angle. It was brief respite. After the break, Dwight Tiendalli won another penalty, Stoch this time taking responsibility and chipped cheekily down the middle for 1-1. The floodgates opened and Stoch's second came soon after, a stunning strike from the edge of the box. Bryan Ruiz was played in a deeper role, covering the absent Kenneth Perez, but popped up with a third in the dying moments to seal the win, punishing NAC's inability to clear. Meanwhile, PSV ground out a 1-0 win over AZ, Ola Toivonen with the winner four minutes from time coming after Mounir El Hamdaoui was sent off.

    Ajax won too, refinding their goal-scoring touch, but remain well adrift of the top two. Luis Suarez also got back in the goals, turning in a corner for the opener just before the break, despite NEC having at least as many decent early chances as their hosts. Suarez combined with Marko Pantelic to set up Siem de Jong for the second and Mitchell Donald made it three late on, again with Suarez involved. They'll be doing well to hold onto their inspirational Uruguayan captain come January. Feyenoord are still in a lonely fourth, Kevin Hofland and Jon Dahl Tomasson with the goals that saw off Heerenveen, as Utrecht dropped points at Vitesse. After going behind to Lasse Nilsson's penalty, Utrecht went ahead through Ricky van Wolfswinkel and Jacob Mulenga, two guys so impressive against Ajax the previous week, but Claudemir snatched a point at the death.

    Waalwijk remain bottom and are in danger of being cut adrift again as their mini-revival now looks well and truly over as they were well beaten by VVV. Adil Auassar and Micheal (sic) Timisela handed Venlo a two-goal half-time lead and Len Leemans made it three after the break to cap a pretty easy win. Den Haag slip back into the bottom three after a tubbing from the still impressive Heracles. Bas Dost's first half double put the Almelo side in control and, though a Mark Looms own goal gave ADO hope, late goals from Marko Vejinovic and Willy Overtoom sealed a big win. Willem II are ahead of ADO only goal difference after they were heavily beaten at home. Mads Junker put Roda ahead early on, but the Tilburgers were level moments later through Christophe Gregoire's penalty. Ruud Vormer and a second from Junker eased Roda through after the break. Sparta are starting to stutter and lost again, a Thomas Enevoldsen hat-trick seeing Groningen to the points. His first was cancelled out by Erik Falkenburg, but Groningen were back ahead within three minutes through Tim Matavz. Enevoldsen completed his treble before half-time and Sparta could only muster one goal in reply from Sander van Gessel and leaves them adrift in the race for Europe.

    No comments: