It was a good weekend for Sam Vines, Mark McKenzie and Bryan Reynolds, as all three defenders helped their teams in earning three points in weekend Belgian action.
Antwerp 2 – 0 Sint-Truiden
It was back to winning ways for the league leaders, after their first loss of the season last week at the hands of Kortrijk.
Friday night the Great Old came away 2-0 winners against the Canaries of Sint-Truiden, thanks to goals from Pieter Gerkens and Christopher Scott. Of course Sam Vines started and went the distance for the Antwerpers, helping to keep the team’s fourth clean sheet of the season.
It wasn’t an easy night for the hosts, that was until the referee reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a red card for Robert Bauer after the German defender fouled Vincent Janssen.
The card was originally yellow but VAR got involved and it became a straight red. They did however find the back of the net after just eight minutes when Belgian international Toby Alderweireld set up Gerkens for the lead.
The death blow didn’t come until stoppage time, in the 92nd minute in fact, when Scott, who had only been on the field for six minutes, scored from close range to seal the deal and make certain that they kept hold of the three points.
Next Sunday the league leaders will have a Sunday afternoon matinee against Standard in the city of Liege.
Genk 2 – 1 Kortrijk
Paul Onuachu has finally returned to top form for the Smurfs, scoring both goals in the win over KV Kortrijk on Saturday afternoon.
Mark McKenzie kept his place in the middle of the Genk defense and played the entire game. The Kerels solitary goal came from Faiz Selemani.
Having handed Antwerp their first loss of the season last week, Kortrijk perhaps came into the game a bit over confident but this time they did not have their own way; in fact they were dominated. It did, however, take until just a few minutes before the half for the deadlock to be broken when Mike Tresor’s free kick found the head of the big Nigerian and he nodded it home.
After the break, the Smurfs continued their domination but just could not breach the Kerels defensive line. In fact, it was the visitors who tied the game up when Selemani placed his free kick into the top hand corner just before the hour mark.
But it was Onuachu who came to the rescue in the 79th minute to rescue all the points.
Up next for Genk will be a Saturday night kick-off on the road against OH Leuven.
Club Brugge 0 – 2 Westerlo
Bryan Reynolds put in a 73-minute shift at the right side of the Westerlo defense when they went to Brugge and registered a shock defeat against the reigning Belgian champions.
South African Lyle Foster did all the damage by striking twice for visitors. Success in the Champions League didn’t carry on to the Pro League as Club now find themselves eight points out of the top spot.
The Brugge boys came out of the starting blocks with three points on their minds as they immediately went on the attack and fashioned a few excellent opportunities. Noah Lang had his strike cleared off the line while Roman Yaremchuk and Hans Vanaken both fluffed their lines and missed when they should have scored.
After the break the hosts had some more chances, but in the 53rd minute it was the Club keeper, Simon Mignolet, who was picking the ball out of his own net when Foster faced him one on one and beat the Belgian international.
Again, Brugge attacked, and again had half-decent chances that never crossed the Westerlo goal line. Four minutes from full time however, the South African scored from inside the box with the goal coming from a free kick further out.
Up next is a Friday night visit from RFC Seraing.
Notes
Jorge Hernandez came onto the field in the 86th minute, but by then all the scoring was done and Anderlecht headed back to Brussels with all the points in the bag after their 3-1 victory over Mechelen. Next Sunday they’ll be on the road when the take on Gent.
Tyler Wolff didn’t get a chance to work up a sweat as he came off the bench in the 89th minute for Beveren when they travelled to Dender and came away 3-0 winners. The American teen will hope to add to his 21 minutes of playing time on Friday night when his team hosts Deinze. Moses Nyeman did not even make the bench.
Mauricio Cuevas went the distance for Club NXT as they beat Genk II by a 3-0 score line. Next up they head to Lommel.
