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Feyenoord dominate, but fail to score at Ajax

Xinhua, January 25, 2015 Adjust font size:

Feyenoord were by far the better team in the Dutch Classic against Ajax in Amsterdam on Sunday, but the Eredivisie match ended in a 0-0 stalemate.

Due to the draw both teams lost ground on PSV in the Dutch title race. Ajax now trail the Dutch leaders by six points and Feyenoord seem out of the race with a 14 points deficit.

Feyenoord dominated Ajax from the start and created two major chances in the first half. Striker Colin Kazim-Richards could have opened the score, but his attempt from close range was saved by Ajax goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen with his right foot.

A shot by Feyenoord forward Jean-Paul Boetius was cleared from the line by Arkadiusz Milik with his head. In the second half Boetius was on his way to score with a header, but the ball accidently hit the foot of team mate Kazim-Richards and didn't cross the line. Cillessen saved a following header by Jens Toornstra.

In addition, Boetius was brought down by Ricardo van Rhijn, but referee Bas Nijhuis waved away the calls for a free-kick and a red card for the Ajax defender. Only in the final phase Ajax got some minor possibilities through Lasse Schone and Ricardo Kishna, but former Ajax keeper Kenneth Vermeer kept the clean-sheet of Feyenoord.

"This match gives me a bad feeling," Feyenoord coach Fred Rutten said afterwards. "Everyone has seen an excellent match by Feyenoord. We deserved to win, but it's about the three points. We should have scored."

Rutten's Ajax colleague Frank de Boer also was disappointed. "He(Rutten) is disappointed about the draw, I am disappointed about our play. Feyenoord were better than us. We failed to take the initiative and looked lackluster."

PSV made no mistake with a 2-1 win at SC Cambuur on Saturday. Georginio Wijnaldum and Memphis Depay gave the visitors the lead, with Cambuur scoring in injury-time through a free-kick by Daniel de Ridder.

Also on Saturday PEC Zwolle and AZ drew 1-1 in Zwolle, while sc Heerenveen defeated Vitesse 4-1. FC Twente won the derby against Heracles Almelo 2-0 on Friday.

PSV now are on 49 points from 19 matches, followed by Ajax (43), Feyenoord (35), PEC Zwolle (33), AZ (32) and FC Twente (31). Endi