The much-maligned Australian international came off the bench on 56 minutes to score AZ's second goal in the win which boosts their hopes of qualifying for Europe.

Holman danced his way to the edge of the box before firing in a low left foot strike which found the bottom corner of the net on 71 minutes.

Earlier Hector Moreno had headed home from a corner to give AZ the lead, while Mounir El Hamdaoui rounded out the scoring on 77 minutes.

The result sees AZ move into fourth place on the Eredivisie table, above Feyenoord who lost 2-0 at David Carney's FC Twente.

Carney was an unused sub as Twente defeated the Rotterdam-based outfit, meaning Steve McClaren's men are one win away from the Dutch title.

In Sweden's Allsvenskan, veteran Australian goalkeeper Ante Covic was sent off early as IF Elfsborg crashed to a 5-1 loss at IFK Goteborg.

Covic received a straight red card on 16 minutes when he brought down Tobias Hysen outside the box in a goalscoring opportunity, although the decision was debatable with the IFK man appearing to lose control of the ball before contact.

The incident was the turning point of the game after Elfsborg had gone ahead early, with Goteborg responding with a dominant victory.

After the game, Covic argued: "His legs hit my knee, so I think he ran into me as much as I run into him."

In Italy's Serie A, Mark Bresciano's Palermo scored two late goals to rescue a draw 2-2 at Cagliari, but Sampdoria move above them into the fourth and final UEFA Champions League spot with four games to play.

Bresciano wasn't in the Palermo squad as he recovers from a back injury.

In Turkey's Super Lig, World Cup hopeful Mile Jedinak played a full game for Antalyaspor as they defeated battling Denizlispor 2-1.

Elsewhere in Turkey, James Troisi was an 80th minute substitute as Kayserispor won 3-0 at Bruce Djite's Diyarbakirspor. Djite did not feature for the losers.

In Russia's Premier League, Socceroo Luke Wilkshire put in a full shift in central midfield for Dinamo Moscow who conceded a late penalty to draw 1-1 at Terek Grozny.

In Switzerland's Super League, Scott Chipperfield played a full game for FC Basel as they beat FC Luzern 5-0 to move above Young Boys at the top of the table.

In Denmark's Superliga, young Aussie striker Brent McGrath didn't get a run as Brondby won 1-0 over AGF.

In Norway's Eliteserien, Jade North's Tromso IL had their clash with Sandefjord postponed with the volcanic ash causing problems in Scandanavia.

In Greece's Beta Ethniki, Nathan Burns did not play as promotion-chasing AO Kerkyra lost 1-0 at Ethnikos Piraeus.

Over to Asia, in Japan's J.League, Matthew Spiranovic was an unused substitute for Urawa Red Diamonds as they defeated Kawasaki Frontale 3-0 to go top.

In Japan's J2.League, Mark Milligan played a full game for JEF United Chiba, picking up a booking, as they lost 2-1 to Fagiano Okayama.

In Korea's K-League, Sasa Ognenovski put in a full shift in defence as Seongnam Ilhwa were beaten 2-1 by Gyeongnam FC.

In China's Super League, the Griffiths brothers were involved as Beijing Guoan defeated Shaanxi Chanba 1-0 to move into second.

Ryan Griffiths played the full game, while Joel Griffiths was a 64th minute sub.