Belgian Pro League Match Week Nine Review

Nine games gone in the Belgian Pro League and one team remains winless. Beerschot suffered another defeat in a feisty Antwerp derby, while Genk and Gent continued their fine form at the top of the table.

Charleroi 1-1 Club Brugge

Hans Vanaken was the hero for the defending champions with a late equaliser against Charleroi. Following Raphael Onyedika’s straight red card, the away side had been chasing an equaliser and putting plenty of pressure on the Zebras goal. Despite having 10 men, Club managed to snatch the draw. Charleroi will be disappointed having had plenty of chances to extend their lead in the second half after Parfait Guiagon’s opening goal.

Genk 2-1 Mechelen

Hyun-Gyu Oh was the hero for Genk as his late winner gave Thorsten Fink’s side another three points. Mechelen goalkeeper Ortwin De Wolf had a part to play, making a huge mistake late on to gift the South Korean a chance to score the winner. Earlier on, Oh had grabbed the equaliser after Kerim Mrabti opened the scoring for the away side. Genk have now won seven games on the bounce.

Standard Liege 1-2 Westerlo

Matija Frigan made it four goals for the season with a brace either side of of Andi Zeqiri’s penalty. The win ends a run of five games without one for Westerlo, while Standard have won three, drawn three and lost three. They remain with the best defence and worst attack in the league. Next up is a huge clash with their bitter rivals Anderlecht.

Dender 1-1 Anderlecht

Anderlecht go into that clash with Standard off the back of another disappointing result. Samuel Edozie scored a great opener after 28 minutes, but Anderlecht were unable to press home their advantage. Instead, Aurelien Scheidler scored his first goal of the season for the home side, ending a run of successive defeats for the newly promoted side. Anderlecht have now not won in five domestically.

Antwerp 5-0 Beerschot

Prior to the derby, Beerschot fans had threatened to ensure the game would not go the 90 minutes if their side were losing. After only being down 1-0 at half-time, the side imploded in dramatic fashion. In four minutes from the 58th to the 62nd, the side conceded three times to go 4-0 down. A section of the away end launched projectiles onto the pitch, with the game being suspended and then abandoned, gifting Antwerp a 5-0 win in the end. As a result, Beerschot remain without a win this season.

Union St Gilloise 3-0 Kortrijk

Union finally found their scoring boots, sticking three goals past Kortrijk. Goals from Mohammed Fuseini and Franjo Ivanovic came either side of a Joao Silva own goal. Union end a run of successive draws to put their stuttering start to the season back on track, while Kortrijk have now gone five games without a win and are struggling to score goals. Next up for the Kerels is a tough one, with Genk coming to town.

Gent 3-0 OH Leuven

Gent put their defeat to Cercle midweek behind them with a comfortable victory in the end over OH Leuven. Early goals from Max Dean and Noah Fadiga set them up nicely. OH Leuven did manage to have more of the ball but struggled to take their chances, a running theme of their season so far. Andri Gudjohnsen made it 3-0 late on for the Buffaloes.

Cercle Brugge 1-1 Sint Truiden

Cercle Brugge looked set to grab back to back wins going into the final minutes at home to Sint Truiden. Kevin Denkey had grabbed another goal to show a return to form, but Andres Ferrari came up clutch with a late equaliser for the Canaries. Cercle will be frustrated having not killed the game earlier, and the switch off at the back that left the striker free to tap home so late in the game.

GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson