Advertisement

REFILE-Soccer-Ajax thrash 10-man Heerenveen, Feyenoord leave it late

(Changes slug, no change to text) By Geert Beckers AMSTERDAM, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Ajax trounced Heerenveen 4-1 in the Dutch championship after recovering from an early setback to turn the game around when the visitors were reduced to 10 men before halftime at the Amsterdam Arena on Saturday. The victory leaves champions Ajax in second place in the standings on 29 points, one point behind league leaders PSV Eindhoven who can restore a four-point lead on Sunday when Phillip Cocu's side visit FC Groningen. Heerenveen started on a high note with Luciano Slagveer's 18th minute goal but the balance of play completely changed when the 21-year-old goalscorer received his second booking and was sent off on the stroke of halftime. After the interval, Ajax began the comeback thanks to an own goal from their transfer target Daley Sinkgraven. Further goals came from Anwar El Ghazi, Ricardo Kishna and Arkadiusz Milik, who converted a penalty. Feyenoord are third on 24 points after they got away with a lacklustre performance against bottom club Dordrecht on Saturday, managing to win 2-0 with late goals from Jens Toornstra and Ruben Schaken. Feyenoord dominated possession but failed to break the their opponents' shackles until Dordrecht defender Marvin Peersman was shown a red card with 18 minutes remaining. Fourth-placed Twente Enschede can catch Feyenoord with a win at PEC Zwolle on Sunday. AZ Alkmaar climbed one place to fifth as they beat Vitesse Arnhem 1-0 at home courtesy of United States international Aron Johannsson's first league goal this season. Go Ahead Eagles beat troubled NAC Breda 2-0 in Deventer, thanks to early goals by Jules Reimerink and former NAC striker Alex Schalk, before Breda's Mats Seuntjens was sent off in the closing minutes. (Editing by Ian Chadband)