Almelo, Netherlands (Sports Network) - Wilfried Bony scored a hat trick to help Vitesse to a 5-3 win at Heracles on Saturday, moving the club into third place in the Eredivisie table.

First-half goals from Bony and Marco van Ginkel had Vitesse up 2-0 inside of 25 minutes before Heracles pulled a goal back before the break through Lerin Duarte.

Bony failed to convert a penalty kick early in the second half, but Van Ginkel was on hand to score on the rebound, while Bony atoned for the miss with his second goal of the contest a few minutes later, making it 4-1 to Vitesse.

Geoffrey Castillion reduced the deficit to 4-2 for Heracles, but after Thomas Bruns was sent off for the hosts four minutes from time, Bony completed his hat trick before a late consolation goal from Ninos Gouriye.

Twente dropped to fourth place on Saturday after sustaining a 2-1 defeat at Heerenveen.

Dmitry Bulykin netted the equalizing goal for Twente in the 54th minute to cancel out a first-half opener from Heerenveen's Rajiv Van La Parra.

But the home side claimed all three points 11 minutes from time when Alfred Finnbogason scored his 17th goal of the campaign.

Venlo claimed three crucial points in its bid for survival as Marcel Seip's first-half goal was enough for a 1-0 win over RKC Waalwijk, leaving Venlo within one point of safety.

The other contest on Saturday saw Michael de Leeuw score the lone goal of the game for Groningen three minutes into stoppage time for a 1-0 win over Zwolle.

02/23 16:58:04 ET