PSV and Ajax maintain pressure

PSV Eindhoven and Ajax kept up the pressure on Eredivisie leaders FC Twente with thumping home victories this afternoon.

A late goal by Bryan Ruiz secured Twente a 1-0 win over Vitesse Arnhem on Saturday night and sent Steve McClaren's team five points clear, but second-placed PSV and third-spotted Ajax remained in the hunt with comfortable wins over Heracles Almelo and Heerenveen respectively.

Ibrahim Afellay opened the scoring at the Philips Stadion on the stroke of half-time, after Heracles had had goalkeeper Martin Pieckenhagen sent off just before the half-hour.

Second-half goals from Balazs Dzsudzsak, Ola Toivonen and substitute Jagos Vukovic sealed the rout.

Ajax blasted Heerenveen away before half-time as they recorded a crushing 5-1 triumph.

All six goals came before the break, with Martin Jol's side surging 4-0 ahead before Heerenveen managed to respond.

VVV-Venlo also enjoyed an emphatic triumph today, posting their biggest win of the season with a 5-0 thrashing of Sparta Rotterdam.

Elsewhere, Feyenoord and FC Utrecht cancelled each other out in Rotterdam.

The match was a clash of fourth and fifth in the Eredivisie but the 44,000 crowd made their displeasure clear as neither side produced any real flair in a drab, goalless encounter.

An equaliser by Frank Demouge 15 minutes from time saw Willem II claim a draw against ADO Den Haag despite the visitors playing for almost an hour with 10 men.