CLUB NEWS, A-SQUAD NEWS

FIVE IN A ROW... BUT ONLY JUST

FC V. DENDER EH - BEERSCHOT  2 - 3

Blood, sweat and tears for Beerschot in the last fifteen minutes of this game where a 3-0-lead almost evaporated when the home team came back furiously, scored twice and nearly snatched a point. The first 75 minutes however Beerschot were by far the better team and looked home and dry. That fallback in the dying minutes where our defense didn't look sharp and concentrated was totally unnecessary. 

Our Mannekes started well and were 2-0 up in the first quarter with goals from Thibo Baeten from the spot - after a foul on Rigo - and a well taken low shot from Thibaud Verlinden from a corner.

Our Mannekes put the home team under pressure, with Rigo and Sanusi bossing the midfield and opportunities for - again - Baeten and Verlinden, but Gies saved. Dender only threatened once in the first half with a nice rush from Van Oudenhoven and a shot from Myny when the ball ended up outside of the stadium.

Beerschot's third goal came on the hour with a perfectly executed counter: Verlinden outran his opponent on the left wing, saw his shot saved by Gies, but Thorisson scored on the rebound. Good goal. 

With three goals up Beerschot became sloppy and less concentrated which allowed Dender to fight back. And how. Coach Regi Van Acker brought on Ngongo and Atteri and those substitutions proved to be brilliant. Both players scored each in just two minutes' time. Ngongo punishing a mistake from Konstantopoulos; Atteri with a shot from the edge of the box.

Beerschot started panicking but eventually survived the "all or nothing"-football from the home team who kept pumping high crosses in the box and tried their luck with continuous shots and headers. The final whistle came as a big relief.

ATTENDANCE: 750
REFEREE: Toeback
GOALS: 16' Baeten 0-1 (strafschop), 18' Verlinden 0-2, 59' Thorisson 0-3, 74' Ngongo 1-3, 76' Atteri 2-3
DENDER: Gies, Smet, Borry, Rowell (36' Atteri), M'Barki (73' Ngongo), Van Oudenhove, Myny (73' De Bodt), Rodes, Cukur, Houdret, Marzo
BEERSCHOT: Lathouwers, Seydoux, Konstantopoulos, Matthys, Van den Bergh, Weymans, Rigo, Sanusi, Verlinden (82' Sebaoui), Baeten (90+2' Alhassan), Thorisson
YELLOW CARDS: Marzo, Smet, Myny, Thorisson, De Bodt, Weymans, Cukur
RED CARDS: none

By Danny Geerts
Photo: Jan Mees

Jupiler Pro League

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