The Hague, Jan 30 (IANS): With interim coach John Heitinga on the bench, Ajax beat Excelsior 4-1 in Rotterdam to put an end to a winless streak of seven matches in the Dutch Eredivisie.
The Amsterdam-based club appointed Heitinga as their interim coach after firing coach Alfred Schreuder on Thursday following a 1-1 draw at home against FC Volendam. The 39-year-old former Ajax player and Dutch international was the coach of the reserves team, reports Xinhua news agency.
Dusan Tadic put Ajax in front from the penalty spot. After Redouan El Yaakoubi equalized, Davy Klaassen put Ajax ahead again at the stroke of halftime. With two beautiful strikes by Mohammed Kudus and Devyne Rensch, Ajax secured the win in the second half.
The victory moved reigning champions Ajax ahead of FC Twente to fourth place.
Earlier on Sunday, league leaders Feyenoord drew 1-1 at Twente, with Santiago Gimenez opening the scoring and Joshua Brenet equalising for Twente.
On Saturday, PSV beat Go Ahead Eagles 2-0, and AZ had a spectacular 5-5 draw against FC Utrecht in Alkmaar.
Feyenoord lead the Eredivisie with 42 points after 19 rounds, ahead of AZ (40), PSV (38), Ajax (37) and FC Twente (36).