Twente cruise past Groningen, Ajax victorious at AZ

FC Twente easily defended their Dutch Eredivisie lead with a 4-0 win over FC Groningen, while defending champions AZ were pushed deeper into trouble by Ajax.

After the disappointing defeat by Moldova’s Sheriff in the Europa League last Thursday, Twente needed a good result against Groningen to recover their confidence.

Miroslav Stoch put Steve McClaren’s side ahead after just five minutes, and Dwight Tiendalli doubled the advantage in minute 21.

A foul from Groningen keeper Brian van Loo had a penalty and a red card as result on the hour mark, and Blaise NKufo converted the opportunity for 3-0. Costa Rican Bryan Ruiz added a fourth with ten minutes to go.

AZ Alkmaar dropped to eighth place as result of a 2-4 defeat by Ajax. Mounir El Hamdaoui scored the opener for AZ after 28 minutes, but Urby Emanuelson and Luis Suarez turned things around in the 57th and 58th minutes respectively.

Goals from Gregory van der Wiel (65th) and Luis Suarez (91st) then gave Ajax a more comfortable lead, something Graziano Pelle’s goal in the 92nd minute, 2-4, couldn’t do anything about.

PSV Eindhoven convinced with a 0-4 win at a weak NEC Nijmegen, with goals from Balazs Dzsudzsak, Jonathan Reis, Otman Bakkal and Danko Lazovic (penalty). PSV remain in second place, at two points from Twente.