Twente's coach Fred Rutten had seen a better FC Twente in the first half and a stronger Ajax in the second. His colleague Henk ten Cate could do nothing but agree. The Ajax boss added that his team had dominated in the second half, but had created few chances.

FC Twente, suprisingly strong in recent weeks, took the lead in the Amsterdam ArenA when Orlando Engelaar thundered a volley past Maarten Stekelenburg. ,,That goal came too easy'', said Ten Cate. ,,A few players were out of position. But Engelaar scored beautifully.'' Ajax were shaken up after the goal, and it lasted until the final stages of the first half before the home side took the initiative. Ajax had some corners and chances from distance, but never created any real danger.

Ten Cate brought on Nicolae Mitea and Thomas Vermaelen at halftime for Kenneth Perez and Hedwiges Maduro. Mitea to give the team offensive impulses from the left wing and Vermaelen to play left back, allowing Urby Emanuelson, again on great form, to move to midfield. The changes almost immediately paid dividend. Bakkal could only stop Emanuelson at the expense of a foul (and a yellow card). Wesley Sneijder fired in the resulting free kick from 20 metres out: 1-1.

Sneijder then led his team in the hunt for a second goal, but after twenty minutes in the second half, the Ajax storm died down. ,,We had poor positioning before the goal'', said Ten Cate. ,,Klaas Jan Huntelaar, who played well today, headed the ball through a number of times, but nobody went deep.'' Ten Cate also brought on George Ogararu for John Heitinga, who played his 100th league match for Ajax, for more crosses from the right back position. FC Twente however, stood their ground. The visitors, under pressure from Ajax in the second half, had no more power to attack, but they kept the home side at bay. ,,We did not create enough'', said Ten Cate. ,,The small number of chances does not worry me yet. Mitea cannot play a full match yet, Ryan Babel is still injured. If everybody is healthy again, I think we have enough firepower. And we still have scored 30 goals in 13 matches.''

A winning goal was not in the cards for Ajax against FC Twente, although the excellent Zdenek Grygera came close with a header in the final minute. The ball went just wide and with that the match got the result it deserved.