Ajax extended their lead in the Eredivisie to five points as new signing Oliver Edvardsen scored against his former club Go Ahead Eagles to seal a hard-fought win.

After a first half of few chances, Bernard Traoré should have put Ajax ahead when he pounced on a mix-up between two Go Ahead defenders, only to drag his shot wide of the left-hand post.

Minutes later Jari De Busser produced a good save to repel Kenneth Taylor’s close-range header, before Brian Brobbey finally broke the deadlock after being put through by Mika Godts’ neat pass.

Go Ahead’s task became harder when Gerrit Nauber was send off in the 68th minute for a second bookable offence with a needless foul on Kian Fitz-Jim.

The away fans were briefly celebrating an equaliser when Jakob Breum headed past Remko Pasveer in the 85th minute, but video analysis showed the ball brushed his arm on the way in.

Edvardsen put the result beyond doubt a minute later when he met Anton Gaaei’s cross from the left-hand side, while Go Ahead were denied a consolation penalty when the video referee overturned a handball decision against Daniele Rugani.

Feyenoord comeback

Feyenoord moved up to third place after making hard work of their match against bottom club Almere City, in Pascal Boschaart’s last match as interim coach before Robin van Persie takes the helm.

Almere took a shock fifth-minute lead when some slack defending allowed Kornelius Hansen to escape down the right and deliver a cross that found its way in off the heel of Charles-Andreas Brym.

Feyenoord equalised before half-time when Givairo Read picked out Julian Carranza in an unmarked position and the Argentinian, who scored the crucial equaliser in Milan in midweek, bagged his first Eredivisie goal.

It looked as if the Rotterdammers would have to settle for a point when Igor Paixão’s free-kick came back off the base of the post with time running out.

But as the clock ticked past 90 minutes, Read served up a cross from deep that found captain David Hancko running in at full tilt from the left-hand side, and the defender smashed a low volley into the far corner.

Double for Kuipers

Feyenoord are level on points with Utrecht and AZ Alkmaar, who beat Fortuna Sittard at home with a goal early in the second half by Zico Buurmeester.

The midfielder came closest to scoring in the first half with four good chances and proved the difference when he rounded off a superb counter-attacking move by thumping Ernest Poku’s cross into the roof of the net.

The other match in the catch-up weekend produced a win for Twente, as left-back Bas Kuipers struck twice to ease the pain of their dramatic Europa League exit against Norwegian champions Bodø/Glimt.

Kuipers stretched to poke in Gustaf Lagerbielke’s knock-down from a free-kick to give Twente the lead in the 18th minute, and was first to react when Ricky van Wolfswinkel played the ball across a crowded penalty area ten minutes from the end.

Results

Saturday

Feyenoord 2-1 Almere City

Sunday

Ajax 2-0 Go Ahead Eagles

AZ Alkmaar 1-0 Fortuna Sittard

Twente Enschede 2-0 NEC Nijmegen