Twente beats Groningen 4-0 in Dutch league

Oct 25, 2009 - 5:33 PM AMSTERDAM(AP) -- FC Twente beat FC Groningen 4-0 on Sunday to stay top of the Dutch league and extend its unbeaten run to 11 games.

Groningen never recovered after Miroslav Stoch and Dwight Tiendalli scored two early goals. Blaise Nkufo converted a 62nd minute penalty for Twente's third, following the dismissal of goalkeeper Brian van Loo, and Bryan Ruiz completed the rout with his team's fourth in the 80th minute.

Also Sunday, Ajax beat AZ Alkmaar 4-2 to go second in the standings. AZ looked on course to shrug off uncertainty over the club's future when Mounir El Hamdaoui put his team in front in the 28th minute after collecting a pass from Brett Holman.

But Urby Emanuelson's equalizer in the 57th minute signaled the start of a dramatic Ajax comeback, with Luis Suarez and Gregory van der Wiel scoring inside nine minutes to put Martin Jol's side 3-1 up. Two goals followed in stoppage time, with Suarez scoring his second of the day before Graziano Pelle pulled one back for AZ.

AZ's problems began when main sponsor DSB Bank NV was declared bankrupt Oct. 19, forcing the team to play its last two matches wearing sponsorless shirts.

Balazs Dzsudzsak, Jonathan Reis and Otman Bakkal each scored in PSV Eindhoven's 4-0 win over NEC Nijmegen. Danko Lazovic also converted a second half penalty for PSV, which is still unbeaten this season.

Twente has 29 points, two more than PSV. Ajax is third with 26. Defending champion AZ is eighth with 15.

Also Sunday, it was: Willem II 4, SC Heerenveen 1.

Feyenoord kept pace with a 1-0 win over VVV-Venlo on Saturday while crosstown rival Sparta Rotterdam beat ADO The Hague 3-2.

Heracles Almelo beat Vitesse Arnhem 2-0 Saturday and NAC Breda edged RKC Waalwijk 1-0.

On Friday, Zambia forward Jacob Mulenga scored his first goal for FC Utrecht and Ricky van Wolfswinkel added another in a 2-1 win over Roda JC.