Eredivisie wrap: Ajax end Heracles´ run, Den Haag overrun Utrecht

Ajax maintained the pressure on second-placed PSV with a comfortable 3-0 win over in-form Heracles in the Eredivisie on Sunday.

It took until the final half-hour for the home side to break their ninth-placed opponents and it came in fortuitous circumstances.

Spanish defender Oleguer was on hand to nod in the easiest of goals after a howler from Heracles keeper Remko Pasveer.

Pasveer dropped a simple high ball and allowed it to slip through his hands with Oleguer in place to finish from barely a yard.

Ajax doubled their advantage six minutes later when Siem de Jong got on the end of a cross from Christian Eriksen to squeeze his shot home.

The scoring was complete nine minutes from time as substitute Aras Ozbiliz put in the third, ending the five-game unbeaten run of Heracles.

ADO Den Haag kept their hopes of direct Europa League qualification alive with a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Utrecht.

Utrecht took a 33rd-minute lead but an equaliser and two goals in the space of four minutes in the second half gave the visitors an important victory.

Winger Edouard Duplan put Utrecht in front, but young Dutch forward Charlton Vicento equalised six minutes before the break.

Alexander Radosavljevic and Dmitri Bulykin scored in the 63rd and 66th minutes, the latter from the penalty spot.

Although holding a two-goal lead, ADO Den Haag were reduced to 10 men in the 76th minute as Vicento received two yellow cards in the space of three minutes.

They were forced to work hard to hold onto the win after Kevin Strootman pulled a goal back in the moments following Vicento’s dismissal.

Groningen made it two wins in a row with an entertaining 3-2 victory over VVV Venlo.

All three strikes came before the half-time interval to set up the win although Venlo made it a nervous last half-hour after cutting the lead to one.

Serbian striker Dusan Tadic and Swede Andreas Granqvist scored in the opening 22 minutes to give Groningen a strong start.

Dario Vujicevic pulled one back three minutes before the interval for the visitors but Nicklas Pedersen struck to restore the two-goal advantage.

Japanese attacker Robert Cullen put Venlo within one on the hour mark but Groningen were good enough to hold on.

Vitesse moved further clear of the Eredivisie relegation zone with a 2-1 win over NEC Nijmegen.

An 80th-minute winner from substitute Marcus Pedersen gave Vitesse a vital three points as they moved seven points clear of the bottom three.

The hosts had made a lively start and Ivory Coast international Wilfried Bony made it two goals from as many games for Vitesse with the opener after 12 minutes.

But the visitors were level through Dutch midfielder John Goossens just after the hour mark.

Looking as though the teams would have to share the spoils, 20-year-old striker Pederson, who had been on the pitch for nine minutes, popped up to find the winner.