Feyenoord fail to punish Ajax draw; Twente join second-place battle
Feyenoord and Ajax both failed to win on Sunday in the Eredivisie. Ajax had drawn 0-0 away to PEC Zwolle in a dull game when Feyenoord failed to capitalize on their rivals’ misstep for second place with a 2-0 loss against FC Twente. NEC, also fighting for second, continued their poor run of form with a loss too.
It was another poor display for Ajax. The Amsterdammers created very little in the MAC³PARK stadium, although they can consider themselves unfortunate not be awarded a penalty when Davy Klaassen’s effort, which was headed towards goal, hit the arm of Zico Buurmeester. However, the officials decided that it was not worthy of a penalty.
This gave Feyenoord the chance to increase their lead in second place to seven points, but they failed to win against FC Twente. The home side, revitalized since John van den Brom took over as manager, took the lead in the 46th minute. A shot from Kristian Hlynsson was straight at Timon Wellenreuther, but the keeper made a huge error in dealing with the ball, resulting in the goal. Sondre Ørjasæter added a second goal in the second half for the final scoreline.
This came after NEC’s winless run in the Eredivisie stretched to four games. Dick Schreuder’s side were defeated 3-2 at home by Fortuna Sittard. Tjarron Chery had put them ahead before Fortuna scored three goals via former NEC defender Ivan Marquez, Mohamed Ihattaren, and Justin Hubner. Bryan Linssen scored a late goal to reduce the deficit to one.
Twente’s successful run of form has brought them into the battle for second place. They are now in fifth, two points behind NEC. Ajax is a point ahead of the Nijmegen side, and Feyenoord still has second place with a four-point lead over Ajax.
At the top of the table, PSV continued their stroll towards the title on Saturday evening with a 3-1 win away to bottom of the table Heracles Almelo. Ivan Perisic, Ismael Saibari, and Dennis Man scored the goals for Peter Bosz’s side.
The defeat had significant consequences for Ernest Faber, who announced his resignation from the manager role. Faber, coincidentally a PSV legend, was performing the job as manager along with his position as technical director at the club. He will be replaced by Vincent Heilmann. The 29-year-old is leaving his position as PSV youth team manager to manage the side. It is their fourth manager of the season.
Heracles were dealt a blow this weekend with Telstar increasing the gap to four points after the IJmuiden club defeated fellow relegation battlers NAC Breda 3-0 on Friday. Jochem Ritmeester van de Kamp scored twice, with Patrick Brouwer getting the third goal to ensure that Telstar are now just a point behind NAC, who are in the spot for a playoff to stay up.
FC Volendam took another step away from the relegation battle after a hugely dramatic win against FC Groningen. The Volendammers were winning 2-1 when Thom van Bergen made up for a horror miss earlier in the game to level the match in the 92nd minute before Robert Muhren scored the winning goal in the 96th minute. Rick Kruys’ side is now five points ahead of NAC. It was Groningen’s sixth loss in a row in the league.