It was a good weekend for Griffin Yow but not very good for Gabriel Slonina in Game Day 26 of the Belgian Pro League.
Westerlo 2 – 1 Standard Liege
It was a game of Yank vs Yanks when Marlon Fossey and Standard Liege went up against Bryan Reynold and Griffin Yow‘s Westerlo. Reynolds went the distance while his team mate came off in the 85th minute after hitting the back of the net for the winning goal. Fossey however, was substitute off after just 21 minutes, due to an injury.
Yow put in a man of the match performance and rightly so, was given that honor. He tormented les Rouches throughout the game. The American was the reason for the first goal of the game when Kamal Sowah brought the American down in the box. Nicolas Madsen put the ball on the spot and the Dane struck his eighth penalty of the season, and 12th goal overall. The goal came in the 36th minute but as the clock showed 45 minutes, the visitors were celebrating the equalizer.
Gilles Dewaele’s effort was deflected and fell to Hayao Kawabe, who put the ball into the box and watched Kostas Laifis out-jump everyone. Sinan Bolat had to pick that one out of the back of his net.
Yow hit his sixth of the season in the 63rd minute when he blasted a rocket into the goal from outside the box, giving the keeper no chance at any heroics.
Fossey did leave the field under his own steam, so the extent of his injury isn’t thought to be a long term one.
Westerlo, who leapfrog Standard into tenth place, will head to Sint Truiden on Saturday night, while the Walloons head to Brussels to go up against league leaders USG.
Genk 3 – 1 Molenbeek
Genk finally got back to winning ways, after a six game winless streak, by beating up on relegation threatened Molenbeek in Limburg. Mark McKenzie went the distance on the back line yet again.
Molenbeek shocked the home crowd when their keeper, Maarten Vandevoordt had to bend down to pick the ball out of the back of his net after Carlos Alberto’s second minute strike. But it was to be their only goal on the night as they were out-shot 12 to 8 by the Smurfs, who scored thrice. Toulu Arokodare equalized in the 21st minute with the help of Bilal El Khannouss’ cross, following a corner kick.
They took the lead 10 minutes before the intermission when El Khannouss was at it again, providing Luca Oyen with a through ball that he buried. The nail in the coffin came from Andi Zeqiri with his left footed shot from just outside the six yard box in the 92nd minute.
The much needed three points puts Genk into sixth place, the last of the coveted championship play-off places. They’ll hope to climb higher when they go up against another struggling team, Sporting Charleroi, over the weekend.
Notes
Kahveh Zahiroleslam played 76 minutes in Anderlecht’s destruction of his Sint Truiden . Les Mauves put four past Zion Suzuki, their Japanese keeper who was born in Arkansas. The Canaries did score first however. Next up is a battle against Westerlo.
Gabriel Slonina and Eupen extend their losing streak to five games after hosting and losing to Gent on Sunday evening. The game ended 2-0. Up next for the Pandas is a visit from Cercle Brugge.
Anderlecht – Sint Truiden
Eupen – Gent
