Ajax's home defeat to AZ fuels speculation about Heitinga future

A 2-0 home defeat to AZ added to the pressure on Ajax coach John Heitinga as the team slipped to fourth place in the Eredivisie, behind their opponents.

Ajax had the ball in the net after just 18 seconds, but Wout Weghorst was in an offside position when he headed down to Kenneth Taylor.

Weslley Patati put AZ ahead from close range when Ajax failed to clear the ball at a corner, and Troy Parrott made it two from the penalty spot just before half-time after a foul by Lucas Rosa.

Ajax were lucky to finish with 11 players after Weghorst elbowed Wouter Goes just before Youri Baas headed the ball into the net from a corner. The goal was rightly disallowed, but Weghorst escaped with a yellow card.

Feyenoord stay top after steamrolling bottom club Heracles 7-0 , with Ayase Ueda scoring a hat-trick in the first 38 minutes to take his tally for the season to 11 in nine matches.

Hapless Heracles were six goals down after an hour as goalkeeper Timo Jansink endured a nightmare on his debut, letting a shot by Anis Hadji Moussa slip through his fingers for Feyenoord's second goal and watching his defense go AWOL for Ueda's third and the fifth goal by Sem Steijn.

Two goals by stand-in striker Guus Til put PSV 2-0 up against Go Ahead Eagles , but a misjudged backpass by Yarek Gasiorowski allowed Milan Smit to pull a goal back in the 62nd minute and set up a nervous last half-hour.

Groningen missed the chance to go above Ajax as they went down 2-0 at home to Sparta , for whom Tobias Lauritsen scored his fifth goal of the season with a header from a corner in the 15th minute. Patrick van Aanholt secured the points with a late free-kick.

Heerenveen managed their first away win of the season , going 3-1 up at Telstar when Ringo Meerveld finished off a move that he started with a run from his own half in the 54th minute

Substitute Milan Zonneveld gave the home side letter hope of a late comeback with an 85th-minute header, but Bernt Klaverboer produced an outstanding save in the dying minutes from Neville Ogidi Nwankwo to deny Telstar.

The goal of the weekend was Gyan de Regt's bicycle kick for Excelsior , set up by Irakli Yegoian's perfect first-time cross, which was enough for all three points against Fortuna Sittard.

Utrecht turned around a 1-0 deficit at home to Volendam to end a four-game winless streak. Souffian El Karouani scored the decisive goal with a shot that wrong-footed Kayne van Oevelen in the 75th minute, before Miguel Rodriguez tapped in a third in injury time.

NEC and Twente shared the points in a match that began and ended with a penalty by Twente veteran Ricky van Wolfswinkel. The equalizer came in injury time, shortly after Arno Vergraven had deflected Basar Önal's shot into his own net to put NEC 3-2 ahead.

Sydney van Hooijdonk scored twice for NAC Breda, but had to settle for a point against PEC Zwolle after Jamiro Monteiro, fresh from Cape Verde's World Cup qualification, slid in an equalizer in the 67th minute.

Results

Saturday

Ajax 0-2 AZ Alkmaar

NAC Breda 2-2 PEC Zwolle

NEC Nijmegen 3-3 Twente Enschede

PSV Eindhoven 2-1 Go Ahead Eagles

Utrecht 3-1 Volendam

Sunday

Excelsior 1-0 Fortuna Sittard

Groningen 0-2 Sparta

Heracles 0-7 Feyenoord

Telstar 2-3 Heerenveen