Erik ten Hag: Ajax showed 'incredible spirit' to prevail at Willem II | OneFootball

Erik ten Hag was full of praise for Willem II after they made his Ajax team work for a narrow 1-0 win on Saturday.

It took until the 81st minute for Jurriën Timber to break the deadlock at a rain-soaked Koning Willem II Stadion, bundling home Antony’s cross at the back post.

“They deserve a compliment, but so do we. We stayed sharp in the second half,” Ajax manager ten Hag told ESPN afterwards.

“There was an incredible spirit in the squad and we kept the peace. We also remained patient and defended their counters well.”

The visitors thought they had opened the lead 10 minutes after the break, only to see Dušan Tadić’s strike ruled out by VAR after Antony was deemed to have been offside early in the build-up.

It was a decision that ten Hag took issue with.

“I thought that was very far-fetched,” the 51-year-old said.

“Mentally that was hard for us, and Willem II actually got more strength from it. Then it’s great if you still win a match like that.”

The win sees Ajax move eight points clear atop the Eredivisie, with attention now turning to Wednesday’s Champions League clash at Benfica.