Westerlo picked up their first three points in Game Day 10, while Gabriel Slonina and Eupen suffer a heavy defeat at the hands, rather feet, of a Sam Vine-less Antwerp.
Westerlo 1 – 0 Kortrijk
It was tenth time lucky for Bryan Reynolds and his Westerlo as they picked up three points for the first time this season to go along with their three draws in the Pro League. The American put in a 78 minute shift against the Kerels, who now fall to last place. Griffin Yow made the bench for the hosts but Alex Mighten did not for the visitors.
The only goal of the game came in the first half from Erdon Daci. KVK dominated the early stages of the game and even had a few half chances but in the 35th minute, against the run of play, Reynolds latched onto the ball and picked out his North Macedonian team mate, who shot left footed from the middle of the box, right into the bottom right corner.
Kortrijk fought back in the second half, just a couple minutes in, Moumain El Idrissy put the ball into the back of the net but the offside flag came up immediately. Later in the game, with just five minutes left in regular time, the net bulged again. This time is was Abdelkahar Kadri but after VAR intervened, they decided to erase this one as well.
Still in relegation trouble, KVK will travel to Brussels to take on Molenbeek after the international break. Kortirjk, hopefully with Mightgen, will host Club Brugge.
Antwerp 4 – 1 Eupen
Not only did Sam Vines miss out on his Great Old’s thrashing of Eupen but it was Chelsea loanee, Gabriel Slonina at the other end picking the ball out of his net on four occasions in the north of Belgium on Sunday afternoon.
It was actually Eupen, who are now on a five game losing streak, that scored first and that was after just 11 minutes when Gary Magnée played a through ball into the box and picked up the assist when Isaac Nuhu tucked the ball into the bottom left hand corner.
The lead was short lived however because from a free kick 25 yards out, the ball was met by an Antwerp head and Slonina got finger tips to the ball, but could only put it in the path of Arthur Vermeeren, who tucked it away from a few feet out. Ten minutes before the half time whistle, Antwerp took the lead and that’s how it ended after the first 45 minutes.
Things got worse for the visitors in the second half. After Slonina made a save from a corner kick, the ball was crossed back into his box and before an Antwerp attacker could get to it, Rune Paeshuyse did and put it into the back of his own net.
With the game already won, Antwerp struck again anyway in the 90th minute after some more hapless defending by Slonina’s back line. A poorly cleared cross was sent back into the six yard box and headed home by Arbnor Muja from practically on the goal line.
The loss for the Pandas leaves them in 12th place, just out of the relegation zone on goal difference. Up next from them in a couple of weeks is a trip to the capital to take on red-hot USG, while fourth place Antwerp heads to Charleroi.
Gent 1 – 1 Genk
It was a game of many chances when Mark McKenzie and Genk took on Gent on Sunday evening, but also a game of not a lot of goals. Both teams had 13 cracks at goal with the hosts putting eight on target, while the visitors managed five.
The first net-bender didn’t come until the 63rd minute however when Andi Zeqiri’s left footed shot beat the Gent keeper. The Buffaloes thought that they had tied things up three minutes later when Gift Orban smashed it between the posts. Although the referee gave the goal, VAR took it away.
They did however get their hard earned point in the 84th minute when Matisse Samoise scored his first goal of the season.
The point leaves the Smurfs in seventh place as the international break arrived. After that, they’ll host KV Mechelen.
Standard Liege 2 – 1 Club Brugge
Marlon Fossey put in a 68 minute shift for les Rouches when they hosted Club at the Sclessin and stole the game from them in the 90th minute to send the Brugge boys home with no points to show for their long bus ride.
The hosts scored first, thanks to Merveille Bokadi’s first goal for Standard in just the 11th minute. Although the hosts had a decent first half, they just could not seem to do anything right in the second and their incompetence in defense was finally punished by Andreas Skov Olsen with just five minutes left on the clock as the Danish front man scored for the seventh time.
Although the visitors went looking for the winner and the hosts did their best to hold onto the point, after a poor attempt at clearing the Brugge area, the ball fell to Isaac Price just outside the 18 yard box and he blasted it just inside the far post to secure the victory.
Up next for Standard will be another home game and this time they’ll welcome Anderlecht.
Notes
Sint-Truiden got spanked at home by USG, by a 4-0 score line but Kahveh Zahiroleslam did make the team sheet for that one. Next up will be an away game against OH Leuven.
