ANDERLECHT – BEERSCHOT 2 – 0
Despite all corona difficulties and hardly any training sessions Beerschot put in a very decent performance in the Lotto Park. It proves that our players have been working well on the training field the last couple of months. On the tactical side as well as physically. However it wasn’t enough tonight to beat Anderlecht. The young class of Vincent Kompany won deservedly but needed the help of the referee on their way to victory.
The home team put the pressure on from the first minute, pushed Beerschot in defense but hardly created a goal scoring opportunity. Vanhamel only had to palm away a shot from Lawrence and reacted well on a back header from Van den Buijs.
On the other side Beerschot didn’t get the penaly they deserved when Tissoudali was fouled in the box. Ref Laforge didn’t even consult the VAR. Incredible really. Tarik got injured, couldn’t go on and was consequently substituted by Noubissi.
Anderlecht grew better in the match, used the space on the flanks… but needed a penalty to break the deadlock. A challenge by Van den Buijs was penalized (handball?) by the ref and Nmecha scored the opening goal from the spot.
It was seven years since Beerschot’s last visit to the Astridpark… and the conclusion must be that nothing much changed about the arbitral decisions ever since. Painful and frustrating.
Anderlecht were well on top in the second half, and Mike Vanhamel produced three great saves on shots by Tau, Amuzu and Miazga. Anderlecht doubled the score in the last quarter by Mukairu. Beerschot tried their best to get on the score sheet until the end but didn’t succeed.
ATTENDANCE: 0
REFEREE: Laforge
GOALS: 32’ Nmecha 1-0 (penalty), 71’ Mukairu 2-0
ANDERLECHT: Wellenreuther, Nmecha (90’ Dauda), Cullen, Tau (83’ Ait El Hadj), Mukairu (87’ Colassin), Miazga, Amuzu, Delcroix, Lokonga, Sardella, Lawrence
BEERSCHOT: Vanhamel, Prychynenko, Van den Bergh, Van den Buijs (66‘ Eleke), Vorogovskiy (66’ Bourdin), Halaimia (46’ Mboko), Pietermaat, Coulibaly, Holzhauser (81’ Sanyang), Tissoudali (14’ Noubissi), Suzuki
YELLOW CARDS: Prychynenko, Coulibaly, Bourdin, Eleke, Collasin
RED CARDS: none
By Danny Geerts
Photo: Jan Mees
