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  • Monday 16 February 2009

    AZ don't win! Eredivisie reviews

    Willem II 0-2 Utrecht
    NAC 1-0 Roda
    Twente 2-1 Volendam
    PSV 2-2 AZ
    Den Haag 1-0 De Graafschap
    Ajax 2-0 Feyenoord
    Sparta 0-0 Vitesse
    NEC 1-1 Heerenveen
    Groningen 2-0 Heracles

    AZ in not won shocker! Not only that, but neither Moussa Dembele or Mounir El Hamdaoui got on the scoresheet. It looked like the leaders were on their way to yet another routine win after Gill Swerts headed home from a corner after PSV were caught dallying in defence and Maarten Martens made it 2-0 following up Demy de Zeeuw's saved penalty. Danny Koevermans, in the side in place of the suspended Ola Toivonen, got one back five minutes after the restart, heading in from a tight angle and, with PSV dominating, he equalised seven minutes from time, profiting from some unusually lax defending. The lead is, therefore, back down to nine points, though that's still massive. Twente continue to lead what chase there is with a win over ten-man Volendam. The bottom side did lead early on, Paul de Lange converting a sixth minute penalty, but were reduced a man just quarter of an hour later when Gerry Koning picked up a second yellow. Marko Arnautovic got Twente back into it, waltzing through a defence not yet reorganised following the dismissal and Blaise N'Kufo smashed home a penalty after Arnautovic had been held back in the area. The woodwork took a pounding from both sides, but 2-1 it remained.

    Ajax got back on track with a win over big rivals Feyenoord in Sunday's early game. With both sides in poor form, it took an age to get going, but Ajax had the trump card in Luis Suarez. Forget the first half - that shouldn't be hard. Early in the second, Thomas Vermaelen headed home as Henk Timmer in the Feyenoord goal was finally beaten. He had a superb game, though he had the frame of the goal to thank on five occasions for keeping his side in it. Feyenoord offered little and their task was rendered impossible when Dwight Tiendalli was sent off eight minutes from the end. Ajax took advantage when Suarez - head and shoulders above anyone else on the field - set up Urby Emanuelson in stoppage time to seal it.

    The league table changed little as a result of the weekend's action. De Graafschap had a one man advantage for 75 minutes against Den Haag and still ended up losing. Bery Powell got the decisive goal just before the break. Roda also had a man sent off as they went down to Nourdin Boukhari's goal for NAC. Utrecht kept up their European challenge on Friday night with a 2-0 win in Tilburg: Willem II are on the slide. A draw helps neither NEC or Heerenveen in their pursuit of European football next season while Sparta will be happier with a point than Vitesse from their drab goalless draw. Two goals in three first-half minutes were enough for Groningen to beat Heracles.

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