A WELL EARNED DRAW AGAINST THE LEADER

Beerschot – RWDM 1-1

A point each for Beerschot and RWDM after a battle in which the visitors opted for their typical hefty type of football with lots of fouls, hard tackles, rather negative approach and speculating on the counter. They scored the opening goal in the beginning of the second half but Jan Van den Bergh equalised only five minutes later. One-one was the final result.

RWDM almost went 1-0 up in the very first minute after a mistake in our defense but Bill Lathouwers saved the day with an exceptional save. Thibo Baeten replied with a header that was ultimately turned away by O'Brien while at the other end our ex-player Yan Vorogovskiy came close but his shot went just centimetres wide. RWDM were in control in that part of the game without creating more scoring opportunities.

A minute after the break it was Vorogovskiy who came to haunt us when a pass from Challouk hit his chest and the ball ended up in the low corner. Champions' luck it was. Beerschot replied almost immediately through Jan Van den Bergh who headed in brilliantly from a corner.

Then the ugly side of RWDM again came to the surface: high knee high tackles, with Heris as its exponent. The Brussels defender, who - so to speak - deserved five yellow and three red cards over 270 minutes of football against us, went over the top in a duel with Van den Bergh but ref De Cremer kept his second yellow card hidden in his pocket. Minutes later however he showed immediate red cards to our head and assistent coaches Wieland and Magerman after they discussed matters on the touchline with the fourth official.

Beerschot showed more offensive power afterwards with good chances for Baeten (well put through by Thorisson) and substitute Ayouba but both their strikes ended up in the middle of the goal where keeper Defourny saved rather easily. RWDM finished the game with an all-or-nothing final push and saw a goal of Rejers rightly disallowed for offside. Bill Lathouwers kept his best save for added on time when he denied Da Silva and so earned a point for our Mannekes.

ATTENDANCE: 3.500
REFEREE: De Cremer
GOALS: Vorogovskiy, Van den Bergh
BEERSCHOT: Lathouwers, Konstantopoulos, Van den Bergh, Matthys, Meisl, Seydoux (’82 Van Himbeeck), Rigo, Sanusi (’90 Weymans), Baeten, Verlinden, Thorisson (’80 Ayouba).
RWDM: Defourny, Le Joncour, Vorogovskiy, Biron (’83 Da Silva), Hazard (’72 Botella), Reijers, O’Brien, Heris (’56 Sankhon), Challouk, De Sart, El Ouahdi (’72 Hamalainen). 
YELLOW CARDS: Van den Bergh, Le Joncour, Verlinden, Heris, Meisl, Challouk
RED CARDS: Wieland, Magerman