Westerlo 2 – 2 Sint Truiden
The Canaries of Sint Truiden came to Het Kuipje on Friday night with nothing to play for but pride in this meaningless Conference League Play-off game against Westerlo. All three Yanks started for their respective teams, with Bryan Reynolds going the distance in his right back position, while team mate Griffin Yow put in a 79 minute shift and provided an assist. On the other side of the field, Kahveh Zahiroleslam was subbed off in the 90th minute in this stalemate.
Ryotaro Ito gave the visitors the lead after only eight minutes with his strike from outside the 18 yard box. Just after the half hour mark however Jordan Bos got the Gamecocks back on level terms. Two minutes after the restart Yow provided Lucas Stassin with a pass that the Belgian teen struck into the back of the net, his ninth of the season.
Things looked good for the hosts as they looked to be heading for their first win in the post-season. That however was undone by an Adriano Bertaccini net-bender in the 69th minute, giving both teams a useless point at the end of the night.
Westerlo will be in action again on Friday night when they head into Wallonia to go up against Marlon Fossey and Standard Liege, while Zahiroleslam and the Canaries host Mechelen on Sunday afternoon.
Kortrijk 1 – 0 Eupen
It was a game played at the pace and style that you would expect from a couple of teams trying to avoid relegation. In the end it came down to just a solitary goal, converted by Joao Silva ten minutes into first half stoppage time. Gabriel Slonina was between the sticks for the Pandas and recorded a couple of saves in the team’s penultimate game.
Having spent eight years in the Belgian top flight, Eupen has now been relegated to the Challenger League for next season. They will however still have one more Pro League game to play and that will be at home against Molenbeek, who could well join them in the second division.
Leuven 3 – 1 Standard Liege
Marlon Fossey was back in the starting line-up for Standard Liege after recovering from a recent injury. And it started well for les Rouches taking the lead thanks to Kelvin Yeboah’s 43rd minute netbender. The American put in an 84 minute shift.
The joy turned to misery in the second half however with Youssef Maziz bending a spectacular free kick just inside the near post two minutes after the re-start. With some strategic substitutions made by Leuven’s head coach, Oscar Garcia, Nacon Nsingi, who came onto the field in the 65th minute, scored the go-ahead goal nine minutes later. Another sub, Icelandic front man made certain of the result three minutes into stoppage time.
Although it was a very good result for Leuven and a bad one for Standard, it was a meaningless game as both teams have no chance of a European Conference play-off game. They will however carry on next week. Fossey and les Rouches will host Reynolds, Yow and Westerlo on Friday night.
Cercle Brugge 4 – 1 Genk
Genk’s excellent start to the play-offs continues to turn to rubbish as they let Cercle put four into the back of their net at the Jan Breydel Stadium. Mark McKenzie was on the left side of the Smurf’s three-man back line and played the duration in this losing effort.
Although the visitors took the lead after just nine minutes through Anouar Ait El Hadj’s fourth goal of the season, Cercle was back in the game three minutes later thanks to Felix Lemaréchal. And then the wheels fell off the Genk bus with Cercle scoring three more unanswered goals
McKenzie’s side are just a point ahead of Cercle but any more slip-ups could mean that they will not be playing in Europe next season. Next up they’ll travel to Brussels to take on top of the league Anderlecht.
