Willem II 2-1 Waalwijk
NEC 1-0 Sparta
AZ 0-1 Groningen
NAC 2-0 VVV Venlo
Den Haag 2-1 Heerenveen
Feyenoord 1-1 Ajax
Utrecht 0-0 Heracles
Twente 2-0 Roda
Vitesse 0-0 PSV
After two games without a goal, Twente had relinquished their lead of the Eredivisie to PSV who just keep on winning. This week, however, it was PSV's turn to struggle, a dour game at the Gelredome ending goalless. In their previous two wins, they'd been a touch lacklustre as well, but managed to win. Not this time. Twente looked to be heading for another 0-0 themselves, but a run of 250 minutes without a goal since the winter break came to an end with two in two minutes. With 19 minutes remaining in the match, some nifty footwork on the edge of the box from Kenneth Perez saw him lose his man and slot in a neat finish and barely 60 seconds later, a brilliant Miroslav Stoch cross found Bryan Ruiz sliding in at the back post for 2-0 and take Twente back level on points with PSV. Ajax lose ground on the Tukkers, but remain nine points adrift of the league leaders after a thrilling draw in the Classic at De Kuip. Feyenoord bossed the game for large periods, but couldn't make the breakthrough. Inevitably, Ajax did, Demy de Zeeuw teeing up Marko Pantelic for a tap-in. With injuries biting, Martin Jol fielded the attack-minded Urby Emanuelson at left-back and it was he who created the equaliser. A lack of communication with Maarten Stekelenburg saw Emanuelson prod the ball away from his keeper and allow Georgino Wijnaldum in to level the scores. De Zeeuw almost won it in the dying seconds, but his shot from range curled high and wide. It would have been undeserved.
Waalwijk remain rooted to the bottom after defeat on Friday. They pegged Willem II - second bottom, but now five points clear of RKC - back after the in-form Stefan Nijland had put the Tilburgers ahead through Fred Benson, but Sergio Zijler poked home the winner ten minutes from the end. NEC also won, Saidi Ntibazonkia grabbing the latest of late goals to see off Sparta 1-0. Den Haag, also struggling, also won, coming from behind after Gerald Sibon put Heerenveen in front. Darryl Janmaat was then sent off for the Frieslanders and late goals from Wesley Verhoek and Bogdan Milic won it for ADO.
Utrecht were held to a goalless draw by fellow European hopefuls Heracles and ended with ten men thanks to Mihai Nesu's late dismissal while NAC made ground on them both, beating VVV Venlo 2-0. Patrick Zwaanswijk put them ahead late in the first half and Anthony Lurling doubled the advantage late in the second. They leapfrog AZ who were beaten by Groningen, Tim Matavz with the only goal of the game ten minutes into the second half.
It's a Belgian week this week with a full midweek programme. The big game sees Twente take on local rivals Heracles (available on ESPN for UK viewers) and there's a huge game at the bottom between NEC and Willem II. PSV have a tricky test at home to Utrecht.
Groningen v Den Haag
NAC v AZ
NEC v Willem II
VVV Venlo v Heerenveen
PSV v Utrecht
Twente v Heracles
Ajax v Roda
Sparta v Vitesse
Waalwijk v Feyenoord
We'll wrap those up later in the week.
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