Fri Oct 26 18:56:30 2007

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Disappointed Koster eyes first win at Ajax

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Utrecht, Netherlands (Sports Network) - Adrie Koster called his coaching debut with Ajax "disappointing," but after a full week of training to put his stamp on the club, hopes for a better result against Utrecht on Sunday.

Koster took over as interim boss after Henk ten Cate left to join Chelsea, but had just one day of practice to prepare for last week's 0-0 draw with NEC.

"It was not good, that was obvious," Koster said. "NEC have won a point, we have lost two."

Ajax (5-0-3) also lost starting goalie Maarten Stekelenburg to a broken finger in the NEC match. He is expected to miss the Utrecht match and may be out for two weeks.

Koster, who has only been with Ajax for seven months, is now responsible for keeping Ajax in the hunt for its first title since 2003-04.

Ajax and PSV are the only unbeatens, but Feyenoord still leads the Eredivisie.

Ajax has had the most explosive offense in the Netherlands, scoring at least two goals in six of its first seven matches before being shutout for the first time last week.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar leads the Eredivisie with nine goals and Luis Suarez has six, but it's unknown if the tandem will continue to fire away under Koster.

Ajax's 26 goals is five more than the second-highest scoring club, Heerenveen, and more than twice as many as 10 other league teams.

Utrecht (3-2-3) is unbeaten in two straight and sits in 10th, nine points out of first. Robin Nelisse leads the club with six goals.

The weekend's league games started Friday with Santi Kolk scoring in the 76th minute as Vitesse edged Willem II, 1-0.

On Saturday, Twente hosts Feyenoord, Excelsior hosts Heracles, Roda hosts Graafschap and Venlo hosts Heerenveen.

Also on Sunday, Sparta hosts PSV, NAC hosts AZ and NEC hosts Groningen.