Marko Pantelic grabbed a hat-trick as Ajax maintained the pressure on the Eredivisie's top two with a 5-1 win at Vitesse Arnhem on Sunday. With FC Twente winning on Saturday to go back to the top after being replaced by PSV Eindhoven on Friday night, the Amsterdammers knew only a win would do if they were to maintain their title challenge. And they delivered in emphatic style despite falling behind to an early goal from Dalibor Stevanovic. Pantelic scored twice in four minutes and added a third five minutes into the second half. Substitute Kennedy Bakircioglu netted within a minute of his introduction and Ismail Aissati completed the rout with 17 minutes to go. Ajax are four points behind PSV and six adrift of Steve McClaren's Twente. Feyenoord are fourth following a 2-0 win at ADO Den Haag - Ron Vlaar and Andwele Slory scoring the goals - while FC Utrecht are a place further back thanks to a 3-1 defeat of NAC Breda. Kevin Vandenbergh and Gianluca Nijholt put Utrecht two up, Matthew Amoah pulled one back but Jacob Mulenga settled the game in the hosts' favour. In today's other game, Nicklas Pedersen scored a late equaliser to give FC Groningen a 2-2 draw against NEC Nijmegen. Tim Matavz also scored for Groningen with Bjorn Vleminckx and Youssef El Akchaoui, from the penalty spot, replying for the visitors.
