In the first matches after the winter break, Dutch premier league leaders AZ Alkmaar and second-placed Ajax on Sunday both scored away victories to keep their momentum going. At Volendam, the bottom-placed team in the league, AZ scored a comfortable win. Brazilian striker Ari scored a header to help the mighty visitors gain the lead. At the 79th minute, defender David Mendes Da Silva firing a powerful shot at the edge of the box zone to seal a 2-0 win for the league leaders.
At Nijmegen, Ajax faced a daunting task against a strong opponent, but eventually earned a hard-fought 4-2 victory.
The first half was scoreless as both sides squandered chances to open the scoring.
Three minutes into the second half, a powerful free-kick by Serb striker Miralem Sulejmani helped Ajax take the lead. But two minutes later, Ramon Zomer equalized for the hosts with a header.
At the 54th minute, Sulejmani scored a double to regain Ajax' lead, but again Nijmegen were quick to equalize thanks to a goal by Youssef El Akchaoui at the 67th minute.
The balance was broken at the 70th minute when Argentine-born Croatian Dario Cvitanich of Ajax was sent off after he was booked for his second yellow card of the game, and Ajax had to play with 10 men for the remaining 20 minutes.
However, the hosts failed to take advantage of the situation, and an own goal by Dani Fernandez of Nijmegen helped Ajax regain the advantage. At the whistle time, Garcia de la Torre Gabri's goal eventually put Ajax through with a score line of 4-2.
In other actions on Sunday, defending champions PSV Eindhoven were held to a 1-1 draw with hosts Roda, while Sparta Rotterdam forced a 1-1 draw at home with Groningen.
On the league table after 18 rounds, AZ Alkmaar lead with 44 points, followed by Ajax (41), Twente (37), Heerenveen (32), PSV (31) and Breda (30).