Ajax mercilessly routed visitors AZ Alkmaar 6-1 on Sunday to move up to the second place in the Dutch first division league (Eredivisie) table.

 

Ajax, which had been in poor form before the winter break, rejuvenated at Amsterdam against a struggling AZ, which finished third in the last season but have now slumped to 11th in the 18-team Eredivisie.

 

Although Ferreira Ari opened the account for AZ only five minutes into the match, Ajax proved to be the better side.

 

Jan Vertonghen equalized for Ajax at the 23rd minute, and Danish international Kenneth Perez, who recently returned to Ajax from PSV Eindhoven, converted a penalty kick at the 44th minute.

 

The second half turned into a solo performance by Ajax. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Kennedy Bakircioglu and Santiago Leonardo scored at the 61th, 67th and 87th minutes respectively. Just before the final whistle, Huntelaar scored his second goal of the night to seal a grand victory for the hosts.

 

With the win, Ajax, with 36 points out of 18 matches, overtook Feyenoord with better goal difference to lie in second place on the Eredivisie table, three points behind leaders PSV. Feyenoord and Groningen, both with 36 points, are ranked third and 4th respectively.

 

In other actions on Sunday, Vitesse whitewashed hosts De Graafschap 3-0, Utrecht were held to a 2-2 draw by visitors Heerenveen, and Heracles overcame visitors Sparta Rotterdam 2-0.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2008)