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Dutch league: Ajax suffer defeat at Twente as Feyenoord impress at AZ

Xinhua, December 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

Dutch league leaders Feyenoord booked a convincing 4-0 victory at AZ, while rivals Ajax lost 1-0 at FC Twente in the Dutch Eredivisie on Sunday.

After three wins in a row, Ajax had difficulties in finding holes in the Twente defense. The visitors created some chances through Amin Younes, Kasper Dolberg and Hakim Ziyech, but Twente also looked dangerous on the counter attack.

In injury-time, Twente were awarded a penalty after a hand ball by Nick Viergever. Mateusz Klich stayed cool from the penalty spot and was responsible for the second Ajax defeat of the Eredivisie season.

For the first time this season, Feyenoord coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst left out his captain Dirk Kuyt. The 36-year-old forward had to settle for a place on the bench in Alkmaar, while Karim El Ahmadi wore the captain's arm band.

Without Kuyt, Feyenoord played one of their best matches of the season against AZ. Steven Berghuis, who started instead of Kuyt, opened the scoring in the 11th minute and Jan-Arie van der Heijden, Nicolai Jorgensen and Tonny Vilhena produced the other goals.

On Saturday PSV booked a narrow 1-0 win over the Go Ahead Eagles. Substitute Siem de Jong became the match winner in the 68th minute. Also on Saturday NEC defeated ADO Den Haag 3-0, sc Heerenveen beat Excelsior 2-1 and PEC Zwolle and Willem drew 0-0. On Sunday, Vitesse won 1-0 at Sparta Rotterdam and FC Utrecht were too strong for Heracles Almelo (2-0).

Feyenoord now have a three-point lead over Ajax after 16 match rounds. PSV are third on six points from the leaders, followed by sc Heerenveen, AZ, FC Utrecht and Vitesse. Next Sunday, Ajax host PSV to conclude the first half of the season, while Feyenoord play at home against Vitesse on Saturday. Endit