Goals galore in Holland, as the ball found the back of the net a massive 36 times across the weekend's eight games whilst the top two struggled. The chasing pack showed that the pursuit for the title is definitely not a two horse race quite yet.
NEC and Heracles kicked off the weekend's action on Friday evening with a 1-1 draw in Nijmegen. The two mid-table sides both staked claims for the lead during the first half, but it wasn't until the 52nd minute that the deadlock was broken. And who else could it be but Bjorn Vleminckx, whose 17th goal of the season further extends his lead at the Eredivisie top scorer's list and put his side 1-0 up. However just over ten minutes later Mark Jan Fleddurus' stunning free kick levelled the game and ultimately earned the visiting Heracles a point, and that's how it stayed.
Bottom side Willem II faced the daunting task of a trip to league leaders PSV on Saturday, but the strugglers almost grabbed a point despite being down to nine men by full time, narrowly losing 2-1. And it was Willem who took the lead after seventeen minutes through Bart Biemens who made it 1-0, and despite Eindhoven's best efforts it wasn't until shortly after the break that Ola Toivonen made it 1-1.
Then with just 20 minutes to go, Willem's Denis Halilovic saw red after he received his second booking. Yet the visitors continued to frustrate and it wasn't until the basement club were reduced to nine men in the 86th minute, due to Veli Lampi being dismissed for a clumsy challenge on Balazs Dzsudzsak, that PSV capitalised on their numerical advantage and snatched all three points when Genero Zeefuik made it 2-1 deep into injury time.
Alkmaar ended their almost two month long winless run in style with an emphatic 6-1 win over second-bottom VVV Venlo. Kolbeinn Sigthórsson was the star of the show and had grabbed a hat trick and pretty much wrapped up the points within 26 minutes, although Venlo's Ahmed Musa pulled a goal back before the break. Sigthórsson then grabbed his and AZ's fourth just two minutes after the restart, and Johann Berg Gudmundsson made it five three minutes later. Sigthórsson capped off the 6-1 win and a five goal haul for himself after 69 minutes.
Vitesse and Roda also shared seven goals as the Arnhem side shocked their European chasing guests by beating them 5-2. Mads Junker put Roda in the lead after just three minutes, but goals from Nemanja Matic, Marco van Ginkel and a Jordi Lopez penalty made it 3-1 by half time. Haruna Babangida and a second from van Ginkel further increased Vitesse's lead, and Jimmy Hempte's free kick was all Roda had left to offer as the game ended in an embarrassing 5-2 defeat for the now sixth placed side.
Twente had to match PSV's result on Sunday to keep up the pace with the leaders, and their game with Feyenoord bared more similarities to their rivals narrow win over Willem than they would have wanted. Gill Swerts put Feyenoord ahead six minutes into the second half after the first half had ended goalless, and it took until the 76th minute for Twente to respond when Wout Brama made it 1-1. And just as it looked like Feyenoord were going to grab a much-needed and well-deserved point in Enschede, Bryan Ruiz found the roof of the net to make it 2-1 and break the away fans hearts.
Ajax began life without Luis Suarez with a 3-0 away win against NAC Breda. A win for Frank De Boer's men never looked in any doubt and Siem de Jong made it 1-0 thirteen minutes in. A Rob Penders own goal and a late strike from Miralem Sulejmani made it three, and wrapped up a precious three points for the away side to keep the gap between them and Twente to five points.
Groningen also earned themselves a crushing away win beating Heerenveen 4-1. Jonas Ivens and Tim Matavž's 12th of the campaign made it 2-0 before Dusan Tadic added a third after the restart. Filip Djuricic added a glimmer of hope for the home side making it 3-1, but Arnold Kruiswijk's sending off proved too much for them as Tadic scored a second and made it 4-1.
Den Haag swept aside Excelsior on their own ground and further increased their chances of a Europa League spot with a 5-1 win. Tim Vincken gave Excelsior the lead, but it would prove to be a long night after that for the hosts.
Seven minutes later Dmitry Bulykin levelled the tie in what would spark an action-packed ten minutes, seeing Excelsior reduced to ten men and Den Haag take the lead through Frantisek Kubik. Bulykin added another before half time and second half goals from Jens Toornstra and Wesley Verhoek made it 5-1 in an impressive and important victory for the visiting team.
Graafschap and Utrecht played their game in mid-week and shared the spoils after a 0-0 draw, despite Utrecht being down to ten men for the last half an hour. The game could have gone either way late on but good keeping made sure the game remained level.