Tomas Necid scored a 74th-minute winner against Willem II to send PEC Zwolle third in the Eredivisie.
The visitors to Tilburg had to wait until deep in the second half to secure a third consecutive victory.
Willem suffered a 5-0 defeat to Ajax last week and so tightened things up in the first period as they restricted Zwolle to few clear-cut chances.
Ron Jans's side began knocking on the door after the interval and eventually got their breakthrough when Necid, who is on loan from CSKA Moscow, bagged his ninth of the season and third in two games.
It was enough for Zwolle to leapfrog AZ and Feyenoord in the table, while inconsistent Willem remain ninth.
