PSV Eindhoven’s lead at the top of the Eredivisie has been cut to six points following their surprise defeat at Heerenveen.

The Friesland side lost the equivalent fixture last season 8-0, but Moldovan striker Ion Nicolaescu pounced on a misjudged backpass by Ryan Flamingo in the 73rd minute to score the only goal of the game.

“We weren’t good enough today,” said coach Peter Bosz after watching his team fail to score for the first time in 66 league matches dating back to January 2023.

Ajax moved into second place as they breezed past bottom club Almere City with a 3-0 win in Amsterdam. The highlight of the match was Kenneth Taylor’s perfectly judged lob for the second goal at the end of the first half, after Jordan Henderson had picked him out with a long pass.

Feyenoord will have the chance to close within four points of PSV when the two clubs meet in Eindhoven on Sunday, after Santiago Gímenez scored a hat-trick in 15 minutes en route to a 5-2 win at home to Heracles.

The Mexican headed in twice from close range either side of a penalty awarded when he was brought down by Damon Mirani. David Hancko added a fourth shortly after half-time before Heracles winger Suf Podgoreanu bundled a corner into his own net in the closing minutes.

Eagles enraged

Utrecht stay level on points with Ajax after sharing the points in a tempestuous encounter with Go Ahead Eagles in Deventer. Eagles managing director Jan Willem van Dop resigned from three committees at the KNVB in protest after complaining his club had been “robbed of three points for the third time this season”.

Van Dop was angered that referee Sander van der Eijk was not corrected by the VAR panel after sending off Enric Llansana in the ninth minute for bringing down Paxton Aaronson, even though the striker did not appear to have the ball under control.

Llansana had given Go Ahead the lead four minutes earlier with a long-range thunderbolt. Despite being a man short the Eagles went 3-1 up and held the lead until the 88th minute, when Utrecht substitute Adrian Blake scored the first of two goals. The second came after seven minutes of added time, another bone of contention for the home side.

Sem Steijn’s 12th goal of the season secured a 2-0 win for Twente against Groningen to keep the Enschede side in fifth place. The striker cut in from the right before beating Etienne Vaessen from a tight angle in the 57th minute.

AZ comeback

AZ staged a late comeback to snatch the points in Breda. NAC took a 12th-minute lead in controversial circumstances when Elías Már Ómarsson scored while a second ball was in the penalty area.

Troy Parrott equalised when he diverted Peer Koopmeiners’s long ball in with his head, before Daniel Bielica spilled a late shot by Koopmeiners straight into the path of Mees de Wit, who nodded in a simple winner.

Sparta won their first point since Maurice Steijn returned as trainer a month ago as Camiel Neghli put them ahead at NEC in the 84th minute, before Ivan Márquez tapped in an equaliser during a goalmouth scramble.

Fortuna Sittard looked to be cruising to victory against RKC when they went 3-0 up after 34 minutes, but two goals by Oskar Zawada reduced the deficit to a single goal in the 66th minute and set up a nail-biting finale before the Limburgers eventually prevailed.

An early breakaway goal by Ringo Meerveld earned Willem II their first win for a month at PEC Zwolle and lifted them to 11th place in the table, giving them breathing space above the relegation play-off zone.

Results

Friday

PEC Zwolle 0-1 Willem II Tilburg

Saturday

Heerenveen 1-0 PSV Eindhoven

Feyenoord 5-2 Heracles Almelo

Fortuna Sittard 3-2 RKC Waalwijk

NEC Nijmegen 1-1 Sparta Rotterdam

Sunday

Ajax 3-0 Almere City

Go Ahead Eagles 3-3 Utrecht

NAC Breda 1-2 AZ Alkmaar

Twente Enschede 2-0 Groningen