A late goal by Bryan Ruiz secured Twente a 1-0 win over Vitesse Arnhem last night and sent Steve McClaren's team five points clear, but second-placed PSV and third-spotted Ajax remained in the hunt with comfortable wins over Heracles Almelo and Heerenveen respectively.

Ibrahim Afellay opened the scoring at the Philips Stadion on the stroke of half-time, after Heracles had had goalkeeper Martin Pieckenhagen sent off just before the half-hour.

Second-half goals from Balazs Dzsudzsak, Ola Toivonen and substitute Jagos Vukovic sealed the rout.

Ajax blasted Heerenveen away before half-time as they recorded a crushing 5-1 triumph.

All six goals came before the break, with Martin Jol's side surging 4-0 ahead before Heerenveen managed to respond.

Demy de Zeeuw hit the opening goal after seven minutes and added the second after 24.

Marko Pantelic stretched the lead four minutes later and Luis Suarez heaped the misery on Heerenveen from the penalty spot in the 35th minute.

Goran Popov pulled one back after 39 minutes but Ismail Aissati's close-range finish restored the Amsterdammers' four-goal cushion 60 seconds later.

VVV-Venlo also enjoyed an emphatic triumph today, posting their biggest win of the season with a 5-0 thrashing of Sparta Rotterdam.

Adil Auassar, Achmed Ahahaoui and Sandro Calabro (two) ensured the match was over as a contest before half-time and Kevin Van Dessel completed the rout 20 minutes from time.

Elsewhere, Feyenoord and FC Utrecht cancelled each other out in Rotterdam.

The match was a clash of fourth and fifth in the Eredivisie but the 44,000 crowd made their displeasure clear as neither side produced any real flair in a drab, goalless encounter.

An equaliser by Frank Demouge 15 minutes from time saw Willem II claim a draw against ADO Den Haag despite the visitors playing for almost an hour with 10 men.

Ahmed Ammi was shown a red card after 37 minutes for a two-footed lunge on Jan-Arie Van Der Heijd but it was the struggling visitors who took the lead midway through the second half through Karim Soltani before Demouge's intervention.