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Match Report: Ajax recover quickly to beat De Graafschap

	Nikos Machlas scores to make it 2-1 for Ajax. [source: ANP]

01 February: If Feyenoord, Vitesse, NEC and Roda had not lost their games, Ajax's victory over De Graafschap (1-3) would have hardly been worth wasting too much words over. A handful of well-executed attacks and a curling Van der Vaart free kick were more than enough to outpace De Graafschap in a mediocre performance in Doetinchem, in which the hard working but extremely weak home team made clear why they now share the last-but-one position with Sparta and RBC.

Ajax's job was done within one hour, as Rafael van der Vaart curled a free kick around a wall of De Graafschap defenders to make it 1-3.

"I'm glad Rafael finally scored from a free kick in an actual game," said Adriaanse, who was impressed by the 17 year-old's free kicks during training sessions. "He is our first man for free kicks. He scored at a very important moment. The (third goal) was the deathblow for De Graafschap."

Apart from that, Van der Vaart's strike was one of the very few moments of real beauty. Before that? Ajax's aloof start was exceptionally ugly, and it offered the small-time opponents the chance to overrun Ajax in the first fifteen minutes. Ajax's defense - in which Chivu returned and Bergdølmo lost his spot to Christopher Kanu - seemed to think that the game started at 8:15, instead of 8:00 hours.

Adriaanse, straight-forward as always: "I know Bergdølmo for half a year now. He's played for half a year. Now I know what he's capable of. And I'm not saitisfied about that. Otherwise I would have left him in the team, wouldn't I?"

With or without Bergdølmo: everyone, including goalkeeper Fred Grim, was completely out of position as right winger Promes (who should have opened the score in the very first minute, face-to-face with Grim) provided Eric Viscaal an easy header finish (12). A few minutes before that, Nikos Machlas saw his first major chance of the evening strike the cross-bar, via goalie Postma's body.

The ease with which Ajax took over immediately after that was remarkable. Maybe the Amsterdammers felt comfortable on the pitch of De Vijverberg stadium, which was in an equally horrible condition as Ajax's home pitch. Without impressing, without displaying much speed or creativity and without reaching the level of play of last week's first half against Vitesse, Ajax created no less than six good chances in the first half, of which a beautiful diving volley by Machlas, just wide of the far post, deserves mention.

De Graafschap was so weak that it wasn't even surprising when two goals were scored by Ajax before half time. They weren't nice, but they counted. Shota Arveladze's low push (28) and a lucky Machlas strike via goalkeeper Stefan Postma's fingers (45) ended up in the net. Van der Vaart's goal in the second half turned the remaining 32 minutes into a rather boring epilogue, in which Ajax dominated, Wamberto and Machlas missed some more opportunities and De Graafschap's fighting spirit vanished.

Paradoxically, Ajax has done a great job by winning this insignificant-looking game. The gap between Ajax (4th) and Roda (5th) has grown to a comfortable six points. In the mean time, the 3rd spot (now occupied by Vitesse) is only one point away. The Arnhem team plays the loaded regional derby against NEC from Nijmegen on Sunday, whereas Ajax will travel north. Opponents FC Groningen are 12th, but it won't take much for them to be a tougher opponent for Ajax than De Graafschap. (MP)

GOALS

• 12' 1-0 Eric Viscaal
• 28' 1-1 Shota Arveladze
• 45' 1-2 Nikos Machlas
• 58' 1-3 Rafaël van der Vaart

Referee: Temmink
Cards: none
Attendance: 11,000
Ajax line-up: Grim; Kanu, Chivu, Pasanen, De Cler; Galásek, Arveladze, Van der Vaart; Van der Meyde (74. Cruz), Machlas, Wamberto (62. Van der Gun).
De Graafschap line-up: Postma; Bot, Nok, Vreman, Fränkel; Den Turk, Van den Brom, Valejev (71. Tumba); Promes, Viscaal (79. Berck Beelenkamp), Turpijn (66. Hupkes).