Ismael Saibari scored a hat-trick to pull PSV level on points with Feyenoord at the top of the Eredivisie after a dramatic contest in De Kuip.

Saibari opened the scoring with a shimmy that turned defender Tsuyoshi Watanabe inside out and a poke with the outside of his right boot to beat Matej Kovar from close range.

Feyenoord equalised when Luciano Valente pounced on some sloppy defending, but Saibari restored the lead within a minute when he rounded off a flowing move down the left with a shot that cannoned in off the left-hand post.

Saibari’s third was a sumptuous lob in the 60th minute, but the game got the grandstand finish it deserved after Oussame Targhalline pulled a goal back with 17 minutes still on the clock.

Under-pressure Ajax coach John Heitinga gained some relief as his team recovered from an early setback against Twente to score three goals in six second-half minutes.

Kristian Hlynsson gave Twente the lead against his former club with a close-range header after three minutes and the home side had chances to go further ahead in the opening 20 minutes.

Wout Weghorst began the recovery with a powerful header in the 48th minute, before Oscar Gloukh’s lob from the edge of the area and a neat finish by Mika Godts put Ajax firmly in control. Ricky van Wolfswinkel scored a penalty for Twente in the 65th minute but Twente were unable to find the equaliser.

AZ stay in touch

AZ brushed aside Utrecht to stay four points behind the leaders, with Troy Parrott scoring twice in the first 33 minutes. The Irishman missed a chance for a hat-trick when he underhit a penalty in the second half, while Sven Mijnans and Mees de Wit were also on the scoresheet for the home side in Alkmaar.

Groningen moved up to fifth with a 2-1 win in Sittard, thanks to an early goal by David van der Werff and a first goal in 94 matches by veteran defender Marvin Peersman, while Paul Gladon headed a late consolation for Fortuna.

PEC and NEC shared the points in Zwolle as the visitors twice took the lead, but were pegged back twice in the space of five minutes.

Jamiro Monteiro scored with a direct free-kick for PEC on the stroke of half-time after Koki Ogawa had given an NEC an early lead. Ahmetan Kaplan smashed in a rebound a minute after the break to restore the lead, but PEC were level again in the 50th minute when Koen Kostons rounded off a breakaway move.

NAC snatched a point at Heerenveen when Mohamed Nassou rammed home an equaliser in the fourth minute of injury time.

NAC went behind when Terence Kongolo looped a header into his own net, but turned the game around with two goals in two minutes.

After Maas Willemsen equalised for the Frisians, NAC seemed to have thrown the game away when Vaclav Sejk punished an error by goalkeeper Bernt Klaverboer, only for Nassou to have the final word.

Sibum’s rush

A goal by Tobias Lauritsen earned Sparta their first home win since mid-August against Telstar, who saw the gap to 16th place increase with the draws for NAC and PEC.

Heracles sacked their coach, Bas Sibum, on Saturday, the day after a 3-0 defeat at Volendam that left them four points adrift at the foot of the table with just three points from 10 league matches.

Heracles gave Volendam far too much space on the left-hand side, allowing Yannick Leliendal and Aurelio Oehlers to fire into the net from range after Nordin Bukala headed in the opening goal towards the end of the first half.

Results

Friday

Heerenveen 3-3 NAC Breda

Saturday

Fortuna Sittard 1-2 Groningen

PEC Zwolle 2-2 NEC Nijmegen

Sparta Rotterdam 1-0 Telstar

Volendam 3-0 Heracles Almelo

Sunday

AZ Alkmaar 4-1 Utrecht

Feyenoord 2-3 PSV Eindhoven

Go Ahead Eagles L-L Excelsior

Twente Enschede 2-3 Ajax