THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — Ajax beat Roda JC 1-0 behind a second-half goal from Thomas Vermaelen to give former Netherlands coach Marco van Basten his first Dutch league win since taking charge of the club.
Vermaelen headed in Miralem Sulejmani’s corner in the 54th to ease the pressure on Van Basten following last week’s opening loss at Willem II. Roda created little offensively and Ajax could have won my a much larger margin if it wasn’t for a series of misses by striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
FC Groningen stayed perfect with a 2-0 win over last-place FC Utrecht behind goals from Andreas Granqvist and Marcus Berg, while Willem II got two goals from Frank Demouge to notch its second straight victory by beating NAC Breda 3-1 away.
Also Sunday, Jason Oost netted a 19th minute penalty to give De Graafschap a 1-0 win over Vitesse Arnhem.
ADO The Hague, which beat AZ Alkmaar 3-0 on Saturday, also has six points and leads on goal difference — the first time since January 1971 it has topped the league standings.