Eredivisie wrap: Twente´s Janko show, Ajax triumph

Marc Janko scored four goals as FC Twente maintained pressure on Eredivisie leaders PSV Eindhoven with a 5-0 win over Heracles on Wednesday.

The win moves Twente to within one point of first place and keeps them two points ahead of third-placed Ajax.

Janko opened the scoring in the fourth minute, before the Austria international striker turned provider on 39 minutes for Luuk de Jong to double Twente’s lead.

Janko nailed his second and his team’s third on the stroke of half-time, and then completed his hat-trick on the hour mark.

The 27-year-old scored his 12th goal of the season and his fourth for the game in the 70th minute to move to second in the league’s goal-scoring charts, one behind NEC’s Bjorn Vleminckx.

Elsewhere, Ajax beat Feyenoord 2-0 at the Amsterdam Arena to climb to third in the league, while NEC fought out a 2-2 draw away to AZ Alkmaar thanks to a brace from Vleminckx.

Both matches had been rescheduled after being postponed in December due to inclement weather.

Belgium striker Vleminckx opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, but goals to Stijn Schaars and Erik Falkenburg in the space of five first-half minutes gave the home side the upper hand at the break.

But Vleminckx netted again in the 77th minute to enable NEC to rise to 11th place on the table.

FC Utrecht won their re-scheduled clash against 10-man VVV Venlo 2-1, courtesy of a 90th-minute winner to debutant Atilla Yildirim.

Striker Frank Demouge opened the scoring in the 37th minute for Utrecht, but relegation candidates VVV equalised less than 60 seconds later via midfielder Ken Leemans.

But substitute Yildirim had the final say in the dying stages, with VVV’s Niels Fleuren shown a red card almost immediately after the re-start for a robust challenge on Utrecht skipper Michael Silberbauer.