Ajax held at NEC as Telstar claim crucial relegation win in Breda
Ajax ended their 2025 with a draw away to NEC Nijmegen on Saturday. The Amsterdammers went ahead through Kasper Dolberg and Mika Godts after an early goal from Bryan Linssen, before Sami Ouaissa scored the final goal. At the other end of the table, Telstar picked up an important win over NAC Breda.
The opening goal after three minutes had a bit of controversy connected to it. Linssen headed the ball at goal on two occasions, with the goal only being given after a VAR review led to the referees deciding that the ball had crossed the line.
NEC had VAR in their favor five minutes later when Alfred Lindhout was sent to the screen for a possible red card on Linssen after he had caught Ko Itakura with a challenge. In a rare move, the referee decided against the red card and chose to give Linssen a yellow.
Ajax’s equalizer in the 37th minute was simple. Sean Steur found Anton Gaaei, and his cross was an easy finish for Dolberg. This was followed by a second Ajax goal before halftime. Philippe Sandler lost the ball as the last man to Youri Regeer, he laid the ball off for Godts to finish in the open goal.
Fred Grim’s side did not have the lead for long. Ouaissa cut inside before curling a shot into the far corner in the first minute of the second half to put the game at 2-2. The winger only played around an hour of the game as he was sent off for an unfortunate landing when trying to spin on the ball.
Ajax finished the year in third place in the Eredivisie, one point ahead of NEC, who are fourth. NEC hosts Utrecht in the Goffert Stadium in January after the winter break. Ajax travel to Telstar.
And speaking of Telstar, Anthony Correia’s side topped off a historic year for the club with a huge win away against fellow relegation candidates NAC Breda on Saturday. A goal from Patrick Brouwer in the 77th minute meant that the club from IJmuiden climbed to 15th while NAC dropped to the bottom spot.
Heracles, who are also in a relegation spot, were beaten comfortably at home by SC Heerenveen on Saturday. Robin Veldman’s side finished a great week in the right manner, winning 3-0 in Almelo with goals from Jacob Trenskow, Vasilios Zagaritis, and Maxence Rivera.
FC Volendam is currently in the playoff spot. Their form has taken a turn for the worse as of late, losing their last five games in the league. Their latest loss came at home to Sparta Rotterdam on Sunday.
The most entertaining game of the weekend was in Sittard. Fortuna beat AZ 4-3 with a late winning goal from Philip Brittijn. Juston Lonwijk had given Fortuna the lead before Troy Parrott and Sven Mijnans scored for the away side. The leveler from Kai Sierhuis was followed by another goal by the striker in the 54th minute before Mees de Wit leveled the game for the last time.
