After round 12 of the exciting Eredivisie season so far, there is a new name at the summit of the table. Heading into the round, the top 11 were separated by just four points with FC Twente holding onto pole position by goal difference.
- By Leo Walker
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Dick Advocaat has returned to football management with AZ Alkmaar and led his side to the top after recording three successive league victories, including the comfortable 2-0 victory over ADO Den Haag on Saturday. The top four all played on Saturday and AZ Alkmaar took full advantage of their rivals slip ups.
Ajax got the days action under way and deservedly suffered their first home defeat of the season against Vitesse. It required a last minute goal though by Valeri Kazaishvili to give Vitesse back to back victories at the Amsterdam Arena. Ajax are on a poor run following two defeats and two draws in their last four games. After RKC Waalwijk’s comfortable 3-0 victory on Friday evening at home to NAC Breda when they scored all three goals after just 25 minutes, NEC Nijmegen were summoned back to the bottom of the table. They travelled to the Grolsch Veste stadion, home of FC Twente. After NEC recorded their first victory of the season in round 11, they continued their good form with a fine comeback against the odds. After falling 2-0 down in the first half they battled back gamely in the second to rescue a point, however they remain in the automatic relegation zone.
PSV were the remaining top 4 side to slip up on Saturday when struggling to break down PEC Zwolle at the Philips Stadion. After just three minutes the hosts raced to a 1-0 lead only to be pegged back ten minutes later by the visiting Zwolle side. The visitors ended up with ten men after Zwolle’s goalscorer Fred Benson was dismissed with five minutes to go.
Sunday’s action got under way at the Euroborg stadion when Roda JC, fresh from defeating PSV in successive games, visited FC Groningen. Incredibly, the entertaining 3-3 draw was the 6th time already this season that this scoreline has featured in the Eredivisie. FC Groningen took the lead on all 3 occasions however the battling visitors equalised each time, including two from the spot.
Feyenoord were able to rise up the league into 4th after defeating SC Cambuur 2-0 in Leeuwarden. Graziano Pellé was suspended for the game following his ludicrous sending off in round 11 when they suffered a 2-1 home defeat, however Feyenoord were able to score twice with Lex Immers and Mitchell Te Vrede scoring his first Senior goal for Feyenoord. The rounds action concluded with Jan Wouter’s FC Utrecht side recording a 2-0 victory at home to sc Heerenveen. The third successive league defeat for Marco van Basten’s side has seen them slip down the league to 11th after a promising start.
Due to torrential rain in Deventer the tie between Go Ahead Eagles and Heracles was abandoned midway into the first half after the pitch became unplayable and therefore just 8 fixtures were completed this weekend.
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