FOURTEEN CORNERS, THE BETTER CHANCES BUT NO GOALS AND POINTS

SK BEVEREN - BEERSCHOT  2 - 0

No joy for Beerschot in the ultimate clash against co-leader SK Beveren after a game in which our Mannekes produced the better football, dominated three quarters of the time, created a handful of good scoring opportunities... but were eventually beaten by an efficient home team that scored early in the game and in injury time. Captain Ryan Sanusi was back in the starting XI after suspension but now topscorer, with Thibo Baeten unavailable because of a hamstring injury. And that cost us in the end.

Despite Beerschot's good start it was Beveren that opened the score with a neat combination through the heart of our defense with Barry capitalising from an inch perfect Coopman pass. Our reaction was solid with nice opportunities for Thorisson, Verlinden, Konstantopolous and Rigo - often after good through balls from Van den Bergh - but only one shot on target.

The referee's all too lenient approach to the game didn't help either. He failed to penalise bad tackles from the Beveren defenders with yellow cards and thought lecturing the culprits was a better option. It added to our frustration. On the brink of half time Sebaoui saw his shot go narrowly wide. The 11 to 2 corner score at the break in Beerschot's favour illustrated our dominance.

Also in the second half Beerschot's high intensity and pressure approach didn't pay off. Again Thorisson, Verlinden and Van den Bergh were unlucky with their shots in search for a deserved equaliser. It was in that period we felt the absence of a cool killer like Thibo Baeten.

With Beerschot putting everyone forward Beveren were efficient on the counter... and scored a second goal when a weak shot from Hoggas went in off the foot of an unfortunate Alhassan for the final score... and Beerschot's second defeat of 2023.  

ATTENDANCE: 5.500
REREREE: Vergoote
GOALS: 8' Barry 1-0, 90+5' Alhassan 2-0 (own goal)
SK BEVEREN: Reus, Everton Luiz, Ismaheel (76' Tshimanga), Van Damme, Hrncar, Vukovic, Barry (83' Ribeiro Costa), Filipovic, Coopman (64' Hoggas), Bateau, Mbokani
BEERSCHOT: Lathouwers, Seydoux (70' Quirynen), Konstantopoulos, Matthys, Van den Bergh, Nzita, Rigo (90' Okyere), Sanusi, Sebaoui (70' Weymans), Verlinden, Thorisson (83' Alhassan)
YELLOW CARDS: Filipovic, Nzita, Van Damme, Everton Luiz, Weymans, Matthys, Vukovic
RED CARDS: geen

By Danny Geerts
Photo: Jan Mees