This afternoon, in the Bosuil stadium, Beerschot missed a unique opportunity to crown themselves "Ploeg van 't Stad" (best team of the city) and failed to launch their team to the top of the league table. Two early counter goals killed the aspirations of our ‘Mannekes’. The balance was restored due to sheer willpower, a lot of pressure forward, good combination football and two goals by Musa Suzuki. And just when purple-white seemed to take the derby home, Mbokani did us in. A three-two loss, was/is too heavy a verdict. We certainly deserved a draw here.
After barely fifteen minutes of play, we were already 2-0 down. An eager Antwerp side took full advantage of the chaos in the Kiel defence. The home side were not unlucky when Refaelov's shot bounced off of a purple boot and over Vanhamel into our goal. However, goal number two was a gem: a quick tick-tock combination from the right flank to the left... where Junklerod's appeared free as a bird and went on to score a belter. Bad luck, we were caught off-guard there by better position play and a clear marking error to top it off. Two early blows, a hard pill to swallow...
After that, Beerschot fought their way back into the game, with dynamic play and technical superiority. This resulted in a nice connecting goal, for which 95% of the credits should go to Tarik Tissoudali, for fooling every Antwerp defender on the flank and perfectly preparing a convenient striking opportunity for Suzuki. When he finished cleanly through the centre, Kiel hearts rejoiced...
The derby was a more even game now, even though the home team’s speed of play was slightly higher. There were no more big chances, but there certainly was suspense on both sides: Antwerp tried with Refaelov; Beerschot with Dom, leading to a hard shot by Suzuki that ended up in the side net.
Beerschot had a strong start of the second half and pushed Antwerp back into its own defence with well-polished combination football. Coulibaly and Sanusi were especially dominant in midfield. Strong challenges with players making strong recoveries - and making good use of the space on the flanks. Holzhauser also showed off his talent, coming close to making the equaliser with a shot (in the side net); an equaliser that at that time would have been more than deserved.
We were rewarded for our strong play when we entered the final quarter, leading to our first goal: again Tissoudali's with the prep-work work and again Suzuki who was in the right place at the right time to finish. Beautiful. The Kiel did not get to enjoy it for long, though. Barely one minute later Mbokani went deep and the Congolese player placed the ball in the far corner past Vanhamel. Back in pursuit again...
In spite of a great deal of good will and commitment, we were unable to overcome this metaphorical uppercut. The three points remained in Deurne North. Unfortunate.
SPECTATORS: none
REFEREE: Vergoote
GOALS: 7' Refaelov 1-0, 15' Junklerod 2-0, 26' Suzuki 2-1, 73' Suzuki 2-2, 74' Mbokani 3-2
ANTWERP: Butez, De Laet, Seck, Junklerod, Refaelov (84' Ampomah), Gerkens, Hongla (71' Verstraete), Miyoshi (56' Buta), Gélin, Haroun, Mbokani
BEERSCHOT: Vanhamel, Halaimia (79' Sanyang), Dom, Frans (89' Mukuna), Van den Bergh, Vorogovskiy (85' Bourdin), Sanusi, Holzhauser, Coulibaly, Tissoudali, Suzuki
YELLOW CARDS: Frans, Hongla, Gerkens, Buta, Sanyang
RED CARDS: none
Text: Danny Geerts
Pictures: Jan Mees and Luther Rommens
