On Friday evening the weekend’s fixtures began with the hopeful rather than confident visit of lowly Roda JC Kerkrade to FC Utrecht, who had drawn their last three games.
Roda JC's stadium in Kerkrade
And indeed, the Utrecht outfit, managed by Ton du Chatinier, finally again were able to take all three points in a 2-1 win, starting slowly but building up a good head of steam before Roda’s consolation goal in injury time.
A single goal from Landzaat was enough to give Feyenoord a 1-0 home win at ‘de Kuip’ stadium over strugglers VVV Venlo. But it was a poor performance from the Rotterdammers as they looked to bounce back from their surprise loss in last week’s derby with Sparta. Manager Mario Been’s training motto this week will be ‘must do better’.
Sparta themselves carried on regardless with a fine 2-3 away win at ADO The Hague. In a pulsating match filled with chances for both sides, it was Falkenburg who took advantage of a goalkeeping error to claim all the points for the ‘other’ Rotterdammers.
With only three victories this season so far, Vitesse Arnhem are a shadow of their usual selves and the situation never got any better this weekend as they lost 0-2 at home to high-flying Heracles Almelo who have moved up to a heady sixth place.
In the other Saturday game, financially-crippled RKC Waalwijk travelled for what could be their last Eredivisie game to Breda, where the agony knew no let-up in an apathetic 1-0 home win for NAC.
The top fixture of the weekend was on the Sunday as the other money-challenged team in the league, AZ Alkmaar, sought to put the collapse of their main sponsor, the DSB Bank, out of their minds for 90 minutes as they hosted Ajax Amsterdam. The first half was all AZ and they mooched off in reasonably fine fettle at half time with a 1-0 lead to show for their troubles.
However, a smart tactical change from Ajax manager Martin Jol, which saw top-scorer Suárez come in from the wing to the centre, produced amazing results in just one 15 minute spell as Ajax scored three times including one from Suárez. Another goal from the Uruguayan sealed matters before a final late effort from Pelle made the final score 2-4 for the Amsterdammers.
Groningen manager Ron Jans was dismal figure after his team’s visit to all-conquering FC Twente in Enschede as he likened his team’s performance to an extra in a film. In-form Twente ran out 4-0 victors including a penalty from top scorer N’Kufo. Steve McLaren was understandably generous in his praise for how his team had come back from their disappointing Europa Cup loss midweek.
PSV continued the ‘score four on Sunday’ theme with a fine away victory at Nijmegen against NEC. Even before an hour was up, they were 0-4 ahead thanks amongst others to their star player this season, Dzsudzsak, who scored in the first minute of play. They remain two points off the lead.
In the remaining game of the weekend lowly Willem II Tilburg suddenly found their scoring shoes at home to fellow-languishers SC Heereveen. The Tilburgers leapfrogged the Fresians in the league table as they too hit the magic four this Sunday (4-1).
Next week: leaders Twente travel to lowly Roda JC and PSV host Vitesse. Then it’s third versus fourth in the ‘classic’ Ajax v Feyenoord. Fifth place Utrecht travel to the rejuvenated Heracles Almelo who are now in sixth place and will not make it easy for the Utrecht outfit. Seventh placed NAC Breda will be looking for all three points as they travel to Venlo. AZ will be hoping for an upturn in their fortunes as they host Groningen, and Sparta face NEC in Rotterdam at ‘the Castle’. In the remaining fixtures, Heereveen host ADO and Willem II travel to last-placed RKC.
Tags: Eredivisie, football
