A big weekend in the Netherlands that saw plenty of goals and many twists and turns at both the top and bottom of the league as table toppers PSV hosted 3rd placed Ajax, and Feyenoord produced a long overdue performance that their fans will have been waiting for all season.
Friday night saw VVV Venlo keep their hopes of beating the drop alive with a 1-0 win over fellow strugglers SC Excelsior. The only goal of the game came with less than a minute gone when Japanese striker Robert Cullen slotted home, and chances for either side were few and far between for the rest of the match meaning the score remained 1-0.
Willem II Tilburg recorded only their second win of the campaign with a battling 4-3 win against Heerenveen, which saw them score all of their goals in the final 25 minutes. Heerenveen had got themselves 2-0 up by half time with goals from Darryl Janmaat and Bas Dost, but Bart Biemens strike in the 66th minute and Arjan Swinkels just four minutes later levelled it up at 2-2.
However, the home side found themselves behind again after 73 minutes when Maceo Rigters put through his own net. And as it looked like it may stay that way, Willem rallied again and with just six minutes to go Jan-Arie Van Der Heijden's goal made it 3-3. Then with stoppage time almost upon them, Rigters made up for his own goal by scoring the winner with just a minute left on the clock.
Den Haag missed the opportunity to go 4th after losing 3-2 away at Breda. Robbert Schilder gave NAC the lead just four minutes in, but a goal from Wesley Verhoek and an own goal from loanee Gabor Horváth did give the Europa League chasers a 2-1 lead at the break.
Schilder was even quicker off the mark after the restart however, and two minutes into the second half his strike levelled things again. And a few minutes later Christian Kum was dismissed after receiving a second yellow, leaving ADO to play the last 35 minutes with just ten men. This proved too much for them as a miss-hit clearance deflected off of Czaber Fehér's leg and into the net for the winner after 61 minutes.
Heracles hammered Vitesse Arnhem 6-1 and pulled away from the bottom three whilst their visitors are now just three points off the drop. Mark Looms scored the only goal in an uneventful first half, but four minutes into the second half the goals began to fly in.
Everton Ramos da Silva made it 2-0, then ten minutes later Mark Jan Fledderus' 20 yard strike made it three. Two penalties within six minutes followed, Willy Overtoom burying both to bring the tally to five, and a Guram Kashia's own goal made it 6-0. Kashia then scored one in the right end in injury time for Vitesse, but it was far too little too late as the game ended 6-1.
Roda failed to build on their impressive 4-1 win over Groningen last week as they were held to a 1-1 draw by De Graafschap. The Europa hopefuls took the lead after 25 minutes through Morten Skoubo, and Steven De Ridder was on hand to equalise just a minute into the second half, earning his side a point.
Champions FC Twente now find themselves three points adrift of PSV as they were beaten 2-1 in dramatic fashion on their visit to Alkmaar. AZ took the lead in the 26th minute when Theo Janssen inadvertently put the ball into his own net, and things got worse for Twente when Douglas Franco saw red just before the break.
The home side were also down to ten men before they could capitalise on their numerical advantage when Nick Viergever was dismissed. In the 89th minute it looked like Luuk De Jong's effort had snatched a late point for Twente, but substitute Erik Falkenburg found the bottom corner deep in to injury time to keep AZ in with a chance of a top 4 finish.
Groningen continued to struggle to show the impressive form they've displayed for most of this season as they were hammered 5-1 by Feyenoord, who are now six points clear of the drop. Georgino Wijnaldum was the star of the show as his four goals doubled his overall tally for the season.
His first two came in the 23rd and 31st minutes, and just before the sides went in for half time Nicklas Pedersen's strike got Groningen back in the game. But Wijnaldum completed his hat trick after 48 minutes with a well-taken penalty and added both his and Feyneoord's 4th, again from the spot, with seven minutes left to play. Ron Vlaar made it 5-1 in the 87th minute to cap off an embarrassing night for the visitors.
Ajax held league leaders PSV to a 0-0 draw on their visit to the Philips Stadion, leaving them just two points behind second placed Twente after their loss to AZ Alkmaar. PSV's Ola Toivonen was the biggest threat but couldn't beat Ajax shot-stopper Maarten Stekelenburg, who was key in helping his side earn a well-deserved point.
Finally, it was honours even in the mid-table clash between NEC Nijmegen and FC Utrecht on Sunday afternoon, as the clash ended 1-1. NEC did not take long to get off the mark as John Goossens found the back of the net just eight minutes in, but Ricky van Wolfswinkel made sure him and his team mates went back to Utrecht with a share of the points as his shot found the roof of the net with only quarter of an hour left on the clock.