Union St Gilloise 2 – 1 Sint-Truiden
It was always going to be a tough game for the Canaries in Brussels when the went up against the league leaders but they held their own and if not for USG’s goal deep in stoppage time, they would have earned a point. And it was Kahveh Zahiroleslam who provided the first goal of the game. The American put in a 78 minute shift.
As expected, the hosts dominated early on. They wouldn’t let their guests touch the ball and even had a couple of chances where they should have scored, but failed to take advantage of those opportunities. Against the run of play however, in the 17th minute, Eric-Junior Bocat flew down the left wing with the ball at his feet and picked out Daiki Hashioka in the box. The Japanese defender sent a softly cushioned header a few yards away to his American colleague on the six yard line. Having caught the keeper out of sorts, Zahiroleslam hit it first time for the unlikely lead. This was just the former Ivy Leaguer’s second goal of the season.
The Canaries almost made it to the intermission with the lead intact but in the 45+2nd minute, Ross Sykes headed in Cameron Puertas’ corner kick.
The Unionists continued their dominance in the second half as they did in the first. In fact, they had 65% of the ball and outshot their opponents, 11-3. That dominance paid off, as did their never-say-die attitude, in the 97th minute when Ecuadorian Kevin Rodriguez fired the ball into the back of the net from inside a crowded box.
The loss was a hard one to swallow, but taking the league leaders to the wire will give them confidence for the rest of the season. It’ll be another tough game this weekend when they host Mark McKenzie and fifth place Genk at the Stayen.
Molenbeek 0 – 1 Eupen
It wasn’t an exciting game to watch with Gabriel Slonina only required to make a solitary save, while second to last place Eupen managed a half dozen shots on target.
It has to be said that Molenbeek has been going through a very bad patch, picking up just four points out of a possible 18 and annoying their fans with their poor performances. After Renaud Edmond scored in the 58th minute, those fans, who had let it be known before the game that nothing less than a victory against lowly Eupen would not be acceptable.
In the 85th minute the game was stopped by the referee because of a few Molenbeek fans throwing fireworks onto the field. The referee gave the Brussels team another chance, restarting the game but with more fireworks, the game was abandoned and Eupen were victorious.
The next game will be a bit tougher for the Pandas, as they will host sixth place Royal Antwerp.
Genk 1 -1 Cercle Brugge
It was a top half of the table contest where Mark McKenzie carried on in his usual defensive position for the Smurfs who claimed a point after a late second half equalizer. Cercle struck after only eight minutes when Kevin Denkey took advantage of some mediocre Genk defending and easily slotted it home from what looked like an offside position. VAR agreed with the referee however and the goal stood.
Andy Zeqiri came off the bench in the 63rd minute and a minute later was celebrating his fourth goal of the season. The Swiss striker got his shot off to the right of the D and smashed it just inside the far post.
Up next for fifth place Genk is a short trip to Sint-Truiden.
Standard Liege 0 – 1 Kortrijk
Marlon Fossey got the nod for les Rouches and played for 77 minutes as his side suffered a shock defeat at the hands of last place Kortrijk.
The Kerels were on a nine game winless streak until they came up against Standard, who have not been having the best of fortunes themselves. Within the first 20 minutes there were a few half chances, including one from Fossey, that he was unable to put away. Still, the 10th place team were expected to comfortably win the three points in front of their home fans. They were unable to find the back of the net, unlike their visitors.
In the 45th minute, after some awful defensive passing, Argentinian Felipe Avenatti was surprised when the ball ended up at his feet around the D. He accepted the gift and slotted it inside the far post.
The reds will try to get back on track over the weekend when they travel to take on Cercle Brugge.
Notes
Both Bryan Reynolds and Griffin Yow started for Westerlo when they hit the road to take on Club Brugge. The result wasn’t a good one, as they lost by a 3-0 score line. They’ll get to redeem themselves over the weekend when they again travel, this time to take on Gent.
