Adam Maher scored the only goal late in the game to sink Heracles Almelo and extend AZ Alkmaar's lead at the top of the Eredivisie to six points.
Maher fired past Heracles goalkeeper Remko Pasveer in the 89th minute to seal a hard-fought win for the table-toppers.
The result ended Heracles' five-game unbeaten league run and means they dropped to ninth in the standings while AZ are now unbeaten in nine Eredivisie matches.
FC Groningen produced a stunning performance to thrash Feyenoord 6-0 on a miserable day for the Rotterdam side.
Groningen scored three times in the opening 20 minutes and the day only got worse for Feyenoord as the goals continued to flow and Dani Fernandez was red-carded in the second half.
Dusan Tadic got the first goal in the opening minute and Maikel Kieftenbeld and Petter Andersson soon added further strikes - with all three created by defender Virgil van Dijk.
Leandro Bacuna added a fourth 10 minutes into the second half, and after Fernandez was sent off Groningen wrapped up a brilliant afternoon with a deserved goal for Van Dijk and another from substitute Suk Hyun-Jun.
Two goals in the first 13 minutes set NEC Nijmegen on the way to a 3-1 win as they drew level on points with their visitors FC Utrecht.
Lasse Schone capitalised on a mistake from Utrecht goalkeeper Roberto Fernandez to put the hosts ahead after three minutes, with Leroy George doubling the lead 10 minutes later with a fine individual goal.
NEC got their third a little over 15 minutes from full-time through a Fernandez own goal before Jacob Mulenga scored a consolation two minutes later with a penalty.
Wilfried Bony's second-half goal gave Vitesse a 1-0 win which deepens the relegation worries of De Graafschap.
Bony struck in the 70th minute to inflict a sixth defeat in 11 games on the hosts.
Vitesse were hardly sparkling themselves but nevertheless move back above Ajax in the race for Europe.
Ajax had followed up their midweek cup triumph over Roda JC with another convincing 4-0 victory over the same opponents to end their five-match winless streak in the league on Saturday.
Four days after a 4-2 win in Kerkrade sent Ajax through to the last 16 of the KNVB Cup, the Amsterdam club were celebrating again thanks to four unanswered goals from Christian Eriksen, Theo Janssen, Jody Lukoki and Lorenzo Ebicilio.
Fellow title hopefuls FC Twente and PSV Eindhoven shared the points at De Grolsch Veste as neither side were able to significantly cut the gap to leaders AZ Alkmaar.
Hosts Twente went ahead after 10 minutes through Douglas but PSV hit back to take the lead with goals from Zakaria Labyad and Marcelo.
However, PSV lost Kevin Strootman to a red card in the 72nd minute and six minutes later they also lost their lead as Leroy Fer drew Twente level at 2-2, and that is the way it finished.
Bas Dost scored a second-half hat-trick as Heerenveen thrashed 10-man ADO Den Haag 4-0 at the Abe Lenstra Stadion.
Luciano Narsingh opened the scoring two minutes before the break before Dost scored three times in 10 minutes to earn Heerenveen their fourth league win of the season.
ADO defender Christian Supusepa was given a straight red card and conceded a penalty in the 76th minute when he stepped on Narsingh's ankle in a reckless challenge.
An own goal from Ard van Peppen gifted Excelsior their first win of the season 1-0 over hapless RKC Waalwijk.
Guy Ramos and Henrico Drost were also sent off on a night to forget for the visitors, who suffered their fourth away defeat of the season.
NAC Breda claimed their fourth win of the season at the expense of 10-man VVV-Venlo 3-1 as they continue to inch away from the lower reaches of the Eredivisie.
Eric Botteghin gave NAC an early lead before Bryan Linssen immediately levelled, with Donny Gorter and Omer Bayram also on target as all the goals came in the first half.
The hosts had gone ahead from the first attack of the game in the fourth minute.
