AZ in control, Ajax slump to defeat

AZ Alkmaar maintained their place at the top of the Eredivisie with a solid 3-1 victory at VVV-Venlo today. Rasmus Elm scored AZ's first goal just after the half-hour mark, while goals from Adam Maher and Simon Poulsen sealed the win after the break. Robert Cullen scored a consolation goal for the hosts in stoppage time, but it could not lift the gloom over VVV, who have now gone eight games without victory. Darren Maatsen's late brace looked to have earned Excelsior their first league win of the season before Luuk de Jong's last-minute goal earned FC Twente a 2-2 draw in a frantic final five minutes. Ola John's 33rd-minute strike opened the scoring for Twente before Maatsen scored two goals in two minutes to give the bottom club an unlikely lead in a pulsating end to the game. However, De Jong's 90th-minute header rescued a draw for the home side, who dominated the match but failed to convert the majority of their chances. ADO stun Feyenoord ADO Den Haag produced one of the performances of the season so far as they recorded a crushing 3-0 win over title hopefuls Feyenoord. John Verhoek got the visitors off the mark at De Kuip in the 15th minute before brother Wesley added the second on the stroke of half-time. Tjaronn Chery scored the third after the break to give ADO their third win of the season and lift them further away from the relegation zone. Groningen defeat Ajax FC Groningen moved into the top eight thanks to a 1-0 win over ten-man Ajax, condemning the reigning champions to their first Eredivisie defeat since March. Leandro Bacuna scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot in the 62nd minute after Gregory van der Wiel was sent off for handling the ball. As a result, Ajax slipped to six points behind leaders AZ. PSV Eindhoven consigned NEC Nijmegen to their fourth straight defeat when they beat them 2-0 at the De Goffert stadium thanks to two late goals. Zakaria Labyad scored the first in the 85th minute before Tim Matavz sealed the win for PSV two minutes later. The result moved title hopefuls PSV into third place as they leapfrogged Ajax on goal difference.