AZ Alkmaar strengthened their grip on fourth place with a 4-0 victory over Excelsior, as nearest rivals Ajax dropped points at home against Fortuna Sittard.

AZ were three up inside 25 minutes with a header by Dani de Wit, a 22nd goal of the season for Vangelis Pavlidis and a shot by Sven Mijnans that went in off the post.

Mijnans scored again in the second half when he hooked the ball in while lying on the ground after Stijn van Gassel had spilled his header.

Excelsior’s sixth defeat in a row leaves them level on points with RKC, current occupants of the relegation play-off spot, who beat fellow strugglers Vitesse Arnhem 3-1.

The Waalwijkers needed late goals by Reuven Niemeyer and substitute Michiel Kramer to overcome a spirited Vitesse and open up a five-point gap over the bottom two. Excelsior play host to RKC on Saturday evening.

Volendam stay bottom but moved to within two points of Vitesse after Damon Mirani scrambled a second-half equaliser against PEC Zwolle, who had two potential goals ruled out for offside.

Ajax took an early lead against Fortuna when Kenneth Taylor was allowed to waltz through the defence before guiding the ball past Michael Verrips. But Deroy Duarte equalised at the start of the second half when his rasping first-time shot beat Diant Ramaj at his near post, before Kaj Sierhuis tapped home a deflected shot.

Brian Brobbey came off the bench to save a point for Ajax in the 88th minute when the ball fell to him in front of goal from a corner.

NEC fifth

NEC Nijmegen climbed up to fifth place, a point behind the Amsterdammers, as two goals in a minute by the in-form Koki Ogawa and Rober Gonzalez earned them their third win in a row against Heerenveen.

They overtook Go Ahead Eagles, who put up a gutsy display against PSV but were unable to recover after Sergino Dest put the league leaders ahead with a mazy run and precise shot in the 10th minute.

Feyenoord eased to a 3-0 win over Heracles to remain 10 points behind the leaders. Yankuba Minteh and Santiago Gímenez gave the champions a cushion at half-time before Igor Paixão fired in a low free-kick after 72 minutes.

Twente stay seven points ahead of AZ in the race for third place after Myron Boadu’s cool finish proved the difference against Sparta, while Almere City and Utrecht both found the net in the opening 15 minutes but neither side was able to find a winner.

Results

Friday

Go Ahead Eagles 0-1 PSV Eindhoven

Saturday

Almere City 1-1 Utrecht

RKC Waalwijk 3-1 Vitesse Arnhem

Twente Enschede 2-1 Sparta Rotterdam

Sunday

Ajax 2-2 Fortuna Sittard

AZ Alkmaar 4-0 Excelsior

Feyenoord 3-0 Heracles

NEC Nijmegen 2-0 Heerenveen

PEC Zwolle 1-1 Volendam