Eredivisie Round-Up: Derby Defeat For Feyenoord, Ajax And PSV Both Win

Posted Monday, August 16, 2010 by YAHOO Sport

Saturday

Ajax 4 2 Vitesse
AZ 1 1 Groningen
PSV
6 0 De Graafschap

VVV 1 0 Heracles
Twente 0 0 Heerenveen

Sunday

Excelsior 3 2 Feyenoord
ADO Den Haag
1 3 Roda
Utrecht 3 1 NAC
Willem II 3 5 NEC

Ajax 4-2 Vitesse

Davy Propper gave Vitesse a shock lead with a smart header beyond Maarten Stekelenburg halfway through the first half. Ajax equalised nine minutes before the break through a thunderous free kick from Jan Vertonghen. Two minutes later Gregory Van Der Wiel latched on to a through ball from Mounir El Hamdaoui to give Ajax a deserved lead. Incredibly, Vitesse pegged Ajax back in the 43rd minute with 17-year old Marco Van Ginkel netting his first senior goal. However, the Godenzonen scored from the second-half kick off when Siem De Jong somewhat fortuitously bundled the ball home. Vurnon Anita then made sure of all three points with a virtuoso strike from the edge of the box just before the hour.

AZ 1-1 Groningen

AZ again made a folly of sporting director Earnest Stewart's steadfast refusal to buy a striker as Groningen almost made them pay for missing a whole host of chances. In their defence, Erik Falkenburg had a goal chalked off incredibly for offside and the incident once again highlighted the need for video technology. The visitors must have thought they had won it when Tim Sparv's volley somehow found its way through the posse of players into the net. However AZ stalwart Maarten Martens rescued a point with a sweetly struck left-foot volley from a Dirk Marcellis cross before Brett Holman missed two golden chances in stoppage time to win it.

PSV 6-0 De Graafschap

Unfortunately for the visitors, the game was ended as a contest once Purrel Frankel picked up a fourth minute red card for a professional foul on Jeremain Lens. Dzsudzsak Balazs stepped up to convert the ensuing penalty. From then on, it was one-way traffic. Swedish striker Ola Toivonen went one better than last week and scored three. His first came in the 26th minute when he slotted home from close range. Within ten minutes of the second-half he had completed his hat-trick with a near-post header and a low left-foot strike. Late strikes from Nordin Amrabat from just inside the area and then from substitute Ibrahim Afellay put the icing on the cake. PSV more than justified their status as the team to beat, according to Goal.com's Eredivisie expert Stefan Coerts.

VVV 1-0 Heracles

In their last sojourn in the Eredivisie, De Koel was a difficult place for teams to go and win and it may well be again this term. The match was ultimately decided after just eleven minutes thanks to young striker Ruud Boymans. The former Fortuna man headed home an outstanding Diogo Viana cross to secure VVV's first win of the season.

Twente 0-0 Heerenveen

Though both Standard Liege and KAA Gent were hailed for their attacking play under Michel Preud'homme, Twente again drew a blank. It was not for the want of trying as the Tukkers created a host of chances but couldn't find a way past with Kenny Steppe though, Bryan Ruiz was strangely out of sorts. The closest Heerenveen came was an early attempt from Christian Grindheim, which struck the foot of the post.

Excelsior 3-2 Feyenoord

The first derby of the season saw Feyenoord suffer a second successive defeat at Woudestein. Guyon Fernandez's pace caused problems throughout and he handed the hosts the lead just before the half-hour with a cute finish over Erwin Mulder. Ron Vlaar equalised four minutes before the break, heading home a Luigi Bruins corner. A stoke of luck on 74 minutes gave the visitors the lead when Jerson Cabral's corner found its way in via the back of Daan Bovenberg. However Bovenberg went from zero to hero as he headed home three minutes later to start the comeback, which was amazingly completed in injury time when Fernandez capitalised on an Andre Bahia error to send the home fans into raptures.

ADO Den Haag 1-3 Roda

The Residentieclub got off to the perfect start when Frantisek Kubik fired them into the lead after just four minutes. However their lead did not last long and Mads Junker levelled things up with a spot kick five minutes later. That gave the visitors momentum and Laurent Delorge scored a fine goal to give the Limburgers the lead. Jimmy Hempte's strike twenty minutes from time rubbed further salt into the wound for ADO.

Utrecht 3-1 NAC

The Domstedelingen took the lead in the thirteenth minute when Ricky Van Wolfswinkel slid in to score after some good work from Dries Mertens. NAC, who travelled to Utrecht with only thirteen players, found some welcome relief as they equalised after 25 minutes from none other than Matthew Amoah who took advantage of a sloppy backpass from Tim Cornelisse.
Utrecht then retook the lead 28 seconds into the second half after a brilliant run and cool finish from Mertens, who was outstanding throughout. It went from bad to worse for Robert Maaskant's side who were reduced to nine men when Jens Janse and Donny Gorter received their marching orders. The latter was sent off for an alleged handball on the line, a la Luis Suarez and Van Wolfswinkel scored the resulting penalty.

Willem II 3-5 NEC

The Tilburgers were quick out of the blocks against NEC and took the lead on six minutes thanks to Finn Juha Hakola. NEC however hit back twelve minutes later when an excellent pass from Leroy George found playmaker Lasse Schone who made no mistake. Belgian striker Frank Demouge headed home from a corner to restore the home side's lead on the half-hour. Parity was restored after 55 minutes when Bjorn Vleminckx making no mistake from the penalty spot and he scored again five minutes later. Bas Sibum then extended NEC's lead after some delightful attacking play before Andreas Lasnik's controversial spot kick gave the hosts a way back into the match. It wasn't to be though as Vleminckx completed his hat-trick in stoppage time.