Tomasson hits hat-trick as Feyenoord open with 5-0 win

Denmark's Jon Dahl Tomasson scored a hat-trick as Feyenoord crushed Sparta 5-0 in the Rotterdam derby, their opening match of the Dutch first division championship on Sunday.

Ajax Amsterdam needed a late equaliser from striker Rafael van der Vaart to secure a point in a 1-1 draw at home to Roda JC Kerkrade.

Defending champions PSV Eindhoven came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Groningen on Saturday.

Tomasson began the rout against Sparta, who are coached by former national team boss Frank Rijkaard, after 11 minutes and added two late goals in the final three minutes.

The first was set up by new signing Pierre van Hooijdonk, while young Japanese talent Shinji Ono, making his debut as a substitute, started the move for the last goal.

Brett Emerton, with a header in the 22nd minute, and captain Paul Bosvelt, with a close range shot in the 55th, were the other names on the scoresheet.

Ajax, who face Celtic in the second leg of their Champions League qualifying tie on Wednesday, could have taken the lead after seven minutes when they were awarded a penalty after goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac brought down Van der Vaart.

Penalty Save
But Romanian defender Christian Chivu's penalty was stopped by Kalac, who also parried the rebound.

Roda looked to have stolen the points when Mark Nygaard headed home a corner 11 minutes from time.

But four minutes later Ajax finally found the net with Van der Vaart's equaliser.

PSV narrowly escaped defeat at Groningen where new signing Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink equalised three minutes from the end.

Groningen went ahead after only 6 minutes through Joost Broerse and added a second in a counter-attack early in the second half when Brazilian midfielder Hugo rounded goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus.

In the 69th minute, Hugo was sent off for handling the ball inside the box and last season's top scorer Mateja Kezman had no problems hitting the net from the spot to bring PSV back into the game.

Last season, PSV started with a defeat but remained unbeaten in the next 33 games to take the title.