Football-Oranje - Alireza Jahanbakhsh was outstanding as AZ Alkmaar edged out Vitesse 4-3 in a thrilling game at the AFAS Stadion.
John van den Brom decided not to rest any players ahead of the KNVB cup final this weekend with the AZ boss still hoping to overtake Ajax in second place.
The hosts raced into a two-goal lead within the first twelve minutes, with Wout Weghorst heading in the opener before Alireza Jahanbakhsh fired in a second.
Vitesse didn’t give up, though, and pulled one back through Bryan Linssen in the 22nd minute before Tim Matavz headed in the equaliser five minutes before the break.
A minute into first half stoppage time, AZ regained their lead as Jahanbakhsh raced onto a Weghorst pass before lobbing the ball over Jeroen Houwen for his second of the game.
Eight minutes into the second-half, Jahanbakhsh fooled Houwen with a strike from the edge of the box to seal his hat-trick and make it 4-2. The Iranian winger now has 18 goals for the season and is top scorer in the Eredivisie.
Mason Mount pulled one back for Vitesse just after the hour mark but AZ held on to move to within two points of Ajax in second. Vitesse are 7th.