Jan Vertonghen opened the scoring for the hosts after 10 minutes, before adding his second of the night just moments after the 37th-minute dismissal of Excelsior's Samuel Scheimann.

Despite being a man light Excelsior dredged up a goal just before the break when Darren Maatsen fired home, but Ajax secured the points thanks to Miralem Sulejmani's 63rd-minute penalty and Nicolas Lodeiro's strike four minutes later.

The win sees Ajax pull level on 27 points with third-placed FC Twente, who play tomorrow, while the Amsterdammers are seven points behind leaders AZ Alkmaar having played two games more.

David Texeira's first hat-trick for FC Groningen was only sufficient to secure a 3-3 draw with NEC Nijmegen in an action-packed clash at the Euroborg.

Texeira opened the scoring for the home side in the 28th minute only for Abdisalam Ibrahim to equalise two minutes later. However, the Groningen striker added his second after the break to regain the lead.

Melvin Platje levelled the score at 2-2 in the 83rd minute with a great strike as NEC thought they had secured a point, but Texeira scored his third almost immediately.

Platje had the final word, however, scoring his second in the dying seconds to pull NEC level for the third time.

ADO Den Haag earned their first win in five games with a 3-0 victory over NAC Breda.

Charlton Vicento opened the scoring 11 minutes before half-time and second-half strikes from Jens Toornstra and Marc Hocher made the game safe.

Adil Ramzi and Sanharib Malki earned Roda JC their second away win of the season with a goal apiece in their 2-1 victory over De Graafschap.

Malki opened the scoring just after the break before Ramzi doubled the visitors' lead in the 65th minute.

Yuri Rose headed a late consolation for the home side.