Thanks to Jelle Vossen (27th, 1-0), Gianni Bruno from penalty (49th, 90th + 5) and Omar Govea (62nd, 3-0), Essevee beat Waasland-Baveren (4-1). In the standings, Zulte (3 points) is 9th and Waasland, who reduced the mark by Daan Heymans (76th, 3-1) is 12th (3 points). At 6.45 p.m., Mechelen receives Cercle Bruges and Charleroi will defend its first place at OHL. At 8:45 p.m., Antwerp welcomes Ghent led for the first time by its ex-coach, Laszlo Boloni.
Zulte Waregem started with enthusiasm and on a free kick, Govea served in the package Ewoud Pletinckx, who could not avoid the exit of Lucas Pirard (2nd). Despite the attempts of its Mexican playmaker, Francky Dury’s team did not supplant their opponent. Waasland-Beveren quickly got back into the game but Abdoubakary Koita, well launched in the depth, missed his control and hastened his dispatch from 16 meters (12th). The game continued without much chance until Saido Beharino took advantage of a loss of ball from Waasland-Beveren in front of his rectangle to give the ball in the axis to Jelle Vossen, who catapulted the ball into the ceiling (27th, 1-0). After that, Zulte retained possession of the ball but the lack of creativity never allowed him to raise the level of the game.
At rest, Nicky Hayen brought Alessandro Albanese and Djihad Bizimana to the game instead of Stefan Milosevic and Jenthe Mertens (46th). An initiative killed in the bud since Alabanese committed a penalty on Daniel Oparé that Bruno transformed (49th, 2-0). Zulte was on the pile. And the game was over when, a haphazard exit by Pirard along the end line to block Beharino, who still served Govea. After performing a small dribbling, the Mexican planted the ball in the ceiling (62nd, 3-0).
Waasland still had a start and Heymans scored his third goal of the season granted on the intervention of the VAR, referee Lothar D’Hondt having initially refused (76th, 3-1). After this interlude, the visitors repositioned themselves in front of the opposing penalty area where Pirard released an attempt by Beharino (90th + 4) before losing a shot from the left of Bruno (90th + 5, 4-1).
Mechelen – Circles of Bruges 2-3
If Mechelen had been able to weigh down the score at the end of the first period, he suffered the repercussions on the restart. While he seemed to have started on the same basis, the Circle equalized by Ike Ugbo as a recovery from Hoggas (54th, 1-1). Stunned, the Malinois then forgot Dino Hotic, who kicked the ball in the back (57th, 1-2). Getting on the game (63rd), Onur Kaya gave a nice pass to Aster Vranckx, who revived the Malinois engine (65th, 2-2). But the Circle still had a surprise in its bag and on a Hotic corner, Thibo Somers gave it the victory (80th, 2-3).
Antwerp snatch their first victory against Ghent, which lines up a third defeat
Thanks to a goal from Dieumerci Mbokani (17th), Antwerp won its first victory of the season (1-0) on Saturday against Ghent, for the first on the Ghent bench of Laszlo Boloni, the former coach of the Great Old named T1 Buffalos Thursday to replace Jess Thorup. In the standings, after three days, the Antwerp are 8th (4 points) and the Buffalos last with three defeats in three matches.
If Antwerp and Ghent had still not won a match before the start of their duel, it was not simply due to bad luck. The Antwerp residents gave a first demonstration of their lack of efficiency in front of goal by Faris Haroun who, alone at the far post, did not frame his shot while the Ghent goalkeeper was downright stuck at the back of his net (4th). As for the Buffalos, they took a long time to sketch a first serious attack on a deep pass from Roman Bezus to Roman Yaremchuk, which forced Jean Butez to leave his goal (11th). Antwerp took a slight rise and Haroun made people forget his blunder at the start of the match by placing the ball on a center on the head of Mbokani (17th, 1-0).
The Buffalos tried to react but Niklas Dorsch’s shot was too central (20th), Sven Kums’ free kick missed (29th) and Bezus missed a shot (31st). Meanwhile, Antwerp had not benefited from a loss of ball from Tim Kleindienst, the fault of Lior Refaelov, who did not serve Pieter Gerkens well isolated in front of goal (23rd).
After the break, Yaremchuk hit twice but Butez easily caught his shot from a narrow angle (47th) and had to work a little more on a header (50th). On the other hand, Davy Roef kept his team in the match by leaving a flat foot a powerful header from Haroun (52nd). The Buffalos continued their sterile dominance, which only generated shots from the second row. We were a long way from the blue crusher, who inflicted on Antwerp their last home defeat on May 16, 2019.
While the game remained blocked in the center, Laszlo Boloni replaced Yaremchuk by Laurent Depoitre (74th) and Bezus by Dogbole Niangbo (77th). Barely mounted, the Ivorian gave a shiver to Butez (79th) but did not change the course of the game has not changed.
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