Marko Arnautovic looked to have set the Enschede outfit on their way to victory with the opening goal midway through the first half, but John Goosens grabbed a point for the hosts 12 minutes from time.

NEC were reduced to 10 men after 88 minutes when Youssef El Akchaoui saw red for a professional foul but there was no time for Twente to make their extra man count.

AZ can extend their eight-point cushion with victory at home to ADO Den Haag tomorrow night, while third-placed Ajax could move to within a point of Twente with a win at Roda JC on Sunday.

Steve McClaren's side took the lead tonight with their first noteworthy attack of the game, when Kenneth Perez's shot from a central position deflected off Arnautovic, leaving Gabor Babos wrongfooted and looking on helplessly as the ball bounced into the bottom-right corner.

Babos was almost picking the ball out of his net again four minutes later but just managed to parry a close-range left-footed shot from Eljero Elia. Arnautovic smashed the rebound over the bar.

Said Ntibazonkiza almost restored parity for NEC two minutes before half-time when he played a one-two with Lasse Schone and fired at the Twente goal, but Nikolay Mihailov made the save.

Twente thought they had doubled their advantage after 71 minutes only to see Elia's strike from Arnautovic's pass chalked off for offside.

Goosens then gave the visitors a warning of what was to come when he cut in and curled a left-footed strike just wide of the right-hand post.

And, 12 minutes from time, the scores were levelled in spectacular fashion.

Ntibazonkiza sprinted onto a ball out on the wing, turned and found Bas Sibum, who crossed into the centre for Goosens to control and unleash a powerful shot into the top-right corner.

The evening ended on a sour note for NEC when captain El Akchaoui was dismissed for pushing Romano Denneboom into the dugout after the pair chased for the ball, but they will be satisfied to at least have a point to show for their evening's toils.