PSV labour to victory

By Berend Scholten

The Eredivisie's top three cemented their places with wins at the weekend, although PSV Eindhoven, AZ Alkmaar and AFC Ajax were all forced to earn their victories in difficult encounters.

Penalty miss
Two goals in the final eight minutes from Jefferson Farfán gave PSV a flattering 3-0 scoreline at SC Heerenveen. But Guus Hiddink's team were pushed all the way by the side seeking to bounce back from UEFA Cup elimination this week, with Klaas Jan Huntelaar failing to convert a second-half penalty to cancel out Ji-Sung Park's opener.

Alkmaar comeback
The victory restored a four-point gap at the top of the Eredivisie after Alkmaar had earlier closed it with a 3-1 win at Willem II. The UEFA Cup contenders were forced to come from behind, however, after Jatto Ceesay capitalised on a goalkeeping error on 26 minutes. But Barry van Galen scored twice, either side of Olaf Lindenbergh's strike, to give Alkmaar all three points.

Double blow
The loss was Willem II's sixth defeat in seven games and their poor form was underlined as Frank van Mosselveld and coach Robert Maaskant were dismissed. Conversely, Ajax made it six wins in eight matches in their first outing since the departure of Ronald Koeman.

Ajax win
Under the joint command of Ruud Krol and Tonnie Bruins-Slot, Ajax opened up a two-goal lead through Angelos Charisteas and Julien Escudé. Roda JC did pull one back with Cristiano's sublime bicycle-kick on the hour, but the home side never looked like conceding a second.

Feyenoord form
Feyenoord were eliminated from the UEFA Cup this week, but their league form is very different and they took their aggregate February score to 19-2 from four matches with a 3-0 victory against RBC Roosendaal. Dirk Kuijt, Salomon Kalou and Shinji Ono were all on target as the side remain fourth.

Late strikes
SBV Vitesse are fifth after Richard Knopper scored a last-gasp goal to earn a 2-1 win against bottom side FC Den Bosch, while FC Utrecht drop to sixth after they conceded another late strike from Edson as ADO Den Haag won by a single goal. Elsewhere, Arjan Ebbinge scored and was dismissed as NEC Nijmegen won 1-0 against RKC Waalwijk, while FC Twente and De Graafschap drew 0-0.

Groningen end run
Finally, FC Groningen stopped a run of ten years without a win at NAC Breda as Erik Nevland, Sander van Gessel, Sfefano Seedorf and Mile Krstev helped the side to a 4-1 victory.