PSV extended their lead in the Eredivisie to 16 points after Feyenoord lost a dramatic Rotterdam derby to Sparta, despite coming back from 3-1 down in the closing minutes.

Feyenoord were without the league’s top scorer Ayase Ueda, who was struggling for fitness, as they took on their city rivals in De Kuip looking for their first win since December 6.

Sparta took the lead at the end of the first half when Joshua Kitolano swapped passes with Tobias Lauritsen on the edge of the area before firing into the top corner. Ten minutes after the restart Mitchell van Bergen added a second when he caught Tsuyoshi Watanabe dawdling on the ball in his own penalty area.

Feyenoord midfielder In-boem Hwang reduced the deficit with a long-range shot, but more slack defending allowed Shunsuke Mito to slide in Sparta’s third with 20 minutes to play.

Shaqueel van Persie, sent on by his father Robin to boost the attack, showed his father’s poacher’s instincts with two magnificent flicks of his boot to score in the 87th and 88th minutes, but Kitolano silenced the Feyenoord cheers with his second in injury time.

Dutch international midfielder Quinten Timber looks to have played his last match for Feyenoord after clashing publicly with Robin van Persie. Van Persie said there was no way back for Timber, who was dropped against Sparta, after the player told ESPN he was disappointed by the coach’s criticism of his recent performances.

Fragile Ajax

PSV needed a late goal by veteran midfielder Ivan Perisic to book their 15th consecutive victory at Fortuna Sittard. Paul Wanner put the visitors ahead after just eight minutes, only for Kaj Sierhuis to level the scores with a long-range strike four minutes later.

Third-placed Ajax also dropped points as they let a two-goal lead slip at home to Go Ahead Eagles.

Goals by Davy Klaassen and Kasper Dolberg gave the Amsterdammers an apparently comfortable lead in a first half when they could have scored five.

But Ajax’s fragile nerves were exposed when Thibo Baeten rounded off a well-worked move with a diagonal shot after 53 minutes, before Milan Smit levelled with a spectacular volley on the spin.

NEC closed the gap on Ajax to two points as they claimed all three points from a helter-skelter match against NAC.

NEC went two goals up in the first 16 minutes, but a double by NAC’s French striker Moussa Soumano, the first a glorious curling shot from 25 metres, squared the scores after 55 minutes.

Dirk Proper put NEC back in front after a clever stepover by Tjaronn Chery, before Boy Kemper smashed in another equaliser. But NEC were not to be denied as Kodai Sano swept home the winner in the fourth minute of injury time,

Visitors win derbies

Groningen prevailed 2-0 in the derby of the north as Heerenveen’s goalkeeper Bernt Klaverboer turned a cross by Younes Taha into his own net, before Thijmen Blokzijl charged through the centre of defence to add a second.

Twente won the derby of the east at Heracles by the same scoreline in a match that was interrupted for 10 minutes when a ball-boy threw a plastic beaker at Twente midfielder Ramiz Zerrouki.

Zerrouki was later sent off for swinging his arm at Heracles’ Ajdin Hrustic, a decision that was slammed by Twente’s coach John van den Brom because Hrustic was pulling Zerrouki’s shirt at the time.

Twente had just gone 2-0 up through a Ricky van Wolfswinkel penalty, adding to Thomas van der Belt’s first-half header, but Heracles were unable to benefit from the extra man.

Volendam move up

Volendam followed up their midweek cup success by moving out of the bottom three with a 2-1 win against Utrecht, who failed to win for the sixth league match in a row.

Joel Ideho put Volendam ahead with a curling shot into the top corner before Brandley Kuwas, standing in for the injured Henk Veerman, waltzed through the Utrecht defence to add a second shortly before half-time.

The basement battle between Excelsior and Telstar ended all square as Telstar surrendered a two-goal lead in the last 15 minutes. Noah Naujoks claimed the equaliser as he outjumped goalkeeper Ronald Koeman to nod in a deflected high cross.

AZ were unable to keep up the momentum from their 6-0 cup win against Ajax as they lost 3-1 at PEC Zwolle, with Shola Shoretire scoring twice for the hosts, while AZ’s Peer Koopmeiners found the net directly from a corner.

Results

Saturday

Ajax 2-2 Go Ahead Eagles

Excelsior 2-2 Telstar

Fortuna Sittard 1-2 PSV Eindhoven

NEC Nijmegen 4-3 NAC Breda

PEC Zwolle 3-1 AZ Alkmaar

Sunday

Feyenoord 3-4 Sparta Rotterdam

Heerenveen 0-2 Groningen

Heracles Almelo 0-2 Twente Enschede

Volendam 2-1 Utrecht