Manager Francesco Farioli made two notable changes to his Ajax lineup: Croatian stalward Josip Sutalo returned from a long illness and took Daniele Rugani's place in the heart of the defense, where he will link up with Anton Gaaei as right-back instead of Devyne Rensch, who was kept out of the lineup as a "protective" measure by Farioli.
With both teams having lost their cup games earlier in the week, both Heerenveen and Ajax were looking to build momentum in the Eredivisie with the latter having the opportunity to move to within one point of league leaders PSV after their loss at PEC Zwolle (3-1).
It was the Amsterdam side which made the best start to the game with constant pressure on Heerenveen's half, but the home team made the visiting fans collectively hold their breaths as Espen van Ee only barely missed Remko Pasveer's goal from distance.
Mika Godts thought he'd get a penalty when former Ajax goalkeeper Mickey van der Hart took him down but the Belgian winger was called offside before a spot kick was given.
The returned Sutalo made his presence known twenty minutes into the game by heading in an Anton Gaaei corner and putting Ajax in front and virtually one point behind PSV.
Mika Godts dribbled his way into Heerenveen's box but could not manage to place his shot past goalkeeper Mickey van der Hart, who got controversially subbed out by manager Robin van Persie during the cup loss at amateur side Quick Boys.
A period of some flashy Ajax football saw the 36-time Dutch champions create several chances for the likes of former Chelsea man Bertrand Traore and striker Brian Brobbey, but neither managed to double Ajax's lead.
A balanced ending to the first half got followed by more of the same after the break with neither side finding sufficient space to break a temporary deadlock.
Bertrand Traore forced a smart save out of Mickey van der Hart who then got beaten by Kenneth Taylor after a quick cross from Anton Gaaei, but the Danish back was ruled offside after a VAR review and Ajax's 2-0 got canceled.
Heerenveen slowly found their rhythm throughout the second half and threatened Ajax with a couple efforts from Danish winger Jakob Trenskow, but Pasveer kept the Dane from scoring.
Much to the traveling support's relief, Chuba Akpom neatly headed in a corner and put Ajax up two goals to nil with less than ten minutes remaining.
A big opportunity in the final stages saw Kenneth Taylor almost beat Van der Hart with a lobbed attempt, but the stopper tipped the ball just wide.
In a weekend where five of the top six Eredivisie teams drop points, Ajax came away as the winner of the weekend with the victory meaning league leaders PSV are just one pont ahead of the record champions now.
Ajax will continue their league campaign in two weeks when the Klassieker against Feyenoord will be played on February 2nd following their two Europa League games against Latvian RFS and Turkish Galatasaray.
Heerenveen failed to rise to the occasion and missed the opportunity to jump ahead of Fortuna Sittard and into eighth place.