Rydell Poepon and Soufian El Hassnaoui scored as De Graafschap sprang a surprise tonight by defeating Roda JC 2-0 in Kerkrade.

Midtable Roda boasted a proud home record of eight wins from 11 matches, while De Graafschap were rooted to the bottom of the table. De Graafschap had secured just three wins in 21 games, and just one success had come away from home against relegation rivals VVV-Venlo. A fourth win lifts De Graafschap off the foot of the table, with Excelsior taking their place.

Roda could have climbed up to seventh with a win, with Vitesse Arnhem's defeat by RKC Waalwijk last night followed by a 4-0 loss for eighth-placed FC Groningen at NEC Nijmegen tonight.

The win ended a run of three straight losses for NEC and quickly punctured the optimism generated at Groningen by a 3-0 win over leaders PSV Eindhoven last time out. Leroy George was twice on target for NEC, while Lasse Schone's deflected effort and a tap-in on the line from John Goossens completed the rout.

NAC Breda climbed above ADO Den Haag with a 4-0 win. Santi Kolk scored twice for NAC, opening the scoring in the sixth minute then teeing up Kees Luijckx to double the lead after ten minutes. Kolk added his second after the break and Eric Botteghin wrapped up the points in injury time.

The wins for NEC and NAC meant VVV-Venlo remained in the bottom three despite their 3-1 win at home to Heracles Almelo, their third straight victory. Nwofor Uche scored twice for VVV before Lerin Duarte gave Heracles hope, but Robert Cullen's goal from Yanic Wildschut's assist ensured the win which leaves them two points behind Den Haag in a position of safety.