Chris Durkin and STVV settle for a draw, while Joe Efford and Jacob Montes score the equalizer and game winner for Waasland-Beveren in Belgian action.
Sint-Truiden 1 – 1 Oostende
Chris Durkin started for the Canaries and played for an hour before being substituted out for Rocco Reitz. Both goals came early in the second half with Taichi Hara netting his first for Sint-Truiden, followed by the equalizer from Makhtar Gueye.
The hosts started off the game looking the better team but the closest they came early on was a ball across the face of goal from Steve De Ridder, but there was nobody quick enough to tap it into the goal.
The Belgian later thought that he had given his team the lead but the offside flag went up and the goal was disallowed.
KVO’s best chance of the half came when Thierry Ambrose set up team mate Brecht Capon with a precision cross but the Belgian sent the shot wide of the target.
The hosts started the second half the strongest team, as they had the first half, and their first sniff at goal came from a wide open Daiki Hashioka. However, the Japanese defender hit the wrong side of the side netting.
The breakthrough however came soon afterwards. Hara got off a good shot but Guillaume Hubert between the Oostende sticks was able to knock it away. Unfortunately for him, it fell right in the path of man from Japan, who tapped it in for his first goal in Belgium in the 52nd minute.
KVO were only behind for a total of four minutes because Gueye used his head in the 56th minute, nodding the ball past Daniel Schmidt in goal. The Canaries then went on the hunt for a winner but Reitz blew his chance, as did Yuma Suzuki late on.
The point leaves the Canaries in ninth place. Up next as they look to climb the standings, will be a trip to Leuven after the international break.
Waasland-Beveren 4 – 3 Excelsior Virton
Both Joe Efford and Jacob Montes started on the bench but they both made all the difference to lead their Beveren team to victory with a big night of goals in this 4-3 game.
The hosts were terrible in the first half, giving up three goals after just 21 minutes. Ayyoub Allach scored after just five minutes and then the Moroccan added another in the 19th minute. His Belgian team mate Valentin Guillaume hit the third one two minutes later.
The Lions got one back four minutes later from Daniel Maderner but still ended the high-scoring half down by a couple goals.
Efford was introduced in the 52nd minute and Montes in the 74th. W-B pushed hard to get back into the game and very late on, actually with less than 10 minutes on the clock, Brendan Schoonbaert made it 3-2.
Then the Americans got in on the action. With just three minutes left on the clock, the Georgia native Efford struck to get things level. Not content with a point, Montes got in on the action and stuck the game winner on the 90 minute mark. Efford assisted on his comrades goal.
The win moves the Lions into second place, five points behind Westerlo. Up next is a trip to take on Dienze.
Notes
There was no place on the bench for Owen Otasowie when Club Brugge traveled to Brussels to take on Anderlecht in a Sunday matinee. The game ended 1-1, dropping Club down to second place in the Pro League standings. After the international break, they’ll host KV Kortrijk.
Sam Vines had nothing to do with Royal Antwerp’s 1-0 win over KAA Gent on Sunday evening while recovering from injury. Gent played an hour with 10 men after Giorgi Chakvetadze was shown a straight red card. Next up will be a road trip to take on Zulte-Waregem.
Mark McKenzie remained on the bench for the visitors when Genk visited Eupen on Sunday night, coming away empty-handed in a 3-2 loss.
