Vleminckx smashed a hat-trick as NEC Nijmegen denied FC Groningen the chance to take a share of top spot in the table. The Belgian striker put NEC two goals to the good by half-time and completed his treble soon after Thomas Enevoldsen pulled one back for Groningen. The visitors' second goal came too late to be of real consequence, as their hopes of joining PSV Eindhoven and Roda JC at the top were scuppered. Koen van de Laak crossed from the right and Petter Andersson slid in to convert from three yards but NEC held on to win and move to tenth in the table. Goals from Youssouf Hersi and Glynor Plet cancelled each other out as mid-table pair De Graafschap and Heracles fought out an entertaining draw at De Vijverberg. Hersi got the ball rolling after quarter of an hour with a calm finish before Heracles drew level eight minutes into the second half, courtesy of Plet's midriff. It was the hosts' fourth draw out of five unbeaten matches, while the away side made it four points from their last two outings off the back of successive defeats. Two goals in the space of three minutes at the start of the second half from Bas Dost and Mika Vayrynen gave Heerenveen victory over second from bottom VVV Venlo. Dost opened the scoring in the 50th minute and Vayrynen doubled the advantage, before the visitors had Jorge Chula sent off for a second yellow card.
