Ajax late goal shower sinks 10 man Heracles Alemelo

Ajax late goal shower sinks 10 man Heracles Alemelo

Three goals in the final half-hour saw Ajax sink 10-man Heracles Almelo and return to within two points of Eredivisie pace-setters AZ Alkmaar.

Toby Alderweireld opened the scoring midway through the second half, shortly before the hosts were reduced to 10 men by the dismissal of Kwame Quansah.

Strikes in the final five minutes from Dario Cvitanich and Ismail Aissati then secured the points for Martin Jol's visitors.

Alderweireld's 20-yard shot in the 10th minute forced Heracles goalkeeper Martin Pieckenhagen into the first save of the match.

Heracles' first chance of note fell just before the half-hour mark to Bas Dost, whose effort was kept out by Maarten Stekelenburg.

Aissati was unlucky not to break the deadlock a minute before the interval, with Pieckenhagen equal to his 16-yard attempt.

The Amsterdam outfit continued to control the tempo of the match after the break, forcing the hosts to spend the bulk of their time defending.

Cvitanich's shot just after the hour looked destined to nestle in the net but Willie Overtoom cleared off the line.

The breakthrough finally came in the 68th minute. Luis Suarez's right-wing cross found the head of Alderweireld, who powered into the top-right corner.

Quansah was given his marching orders for a second bookable offence barely a minute later as Heracles' afternoon went from bad to worse.

And there was more misery to come as Ajax made the result more emphatic with two late goals.

Uruguay forward Suarez crossed for Cvitanich to nod high into Pieckenhagen's net in the 86th minute, and then Aissati fired a fine right-footed shot home to seal the victory two minutes later.