Ostend has offered Club Brugge its fifth league win in a row on a silver platter. Adamyan and Skov Olsen eagerly took the Ostend gifts: 1-3. Club thus continues to follow leader Union at 7 points.
KV Oostende – Club Brugge in a nutshell:
- Key moment: “Oh la la la, c’est magnifique!” Tonight it adorned the shirts of KV Oostende as a tribute to Arno. But the defending work of the coastal team was by no means magnificent, it gave away no fewer than 3 goals in gift packaging. The not so sharp action by Scherpen on the hour killed KVO.
- Man of the match: Sargis Adamyan was allowed to remain in the starting line-up at Club and the Armenian did not disappoint. He was on the lookout twice to mercilessly punish defensive fumbling at Ostend. 4 goals in 6 matches, no crazy entrance from the new striker at Club.
- Quote: “It was one of my worst evenings, I don’t have to spend a lot of words on that. It just wasn’t good, this is an evening to forget quickly. I take this defeat on me,” said KVO goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen.
- Remarkable: For Club it is already the 10th (!) league win in a row against Ostend. It has been since May 18, 2017, when in Play-off I, that the coastal team was able to win again against Club.
Club eagerly unpacks gifts from Ostend
Surprise at Club: no Noa Lang in the base. The Dutchman has been looking for his best level for weeks and went into the dressing room last week when he was replaced against Seraing. Schreuder didn’t like that, so Lang was allowed to accompany his compatriots Vormer and Dost on the couch. Again in the starting eleven: Charles De Ketelaere.
Ostend started the game strongly, Club escaped an early goal when a hard bang from Gueye hit the post. The home team kept pace, but suddenly cut into their own skin. With an unfortunate header, McGeehan set Adamyan on his way to goal. An ultimate tackle by Jäkel went wrong and Adamyan was able to score in two times.
Jäkel scored in two times, just 5 minutes later. Mechele was able to block his escape shot at first, but it was hit during the re-start. But again KVO shot itself in the foot. Scherpen didn’t look sharp on a back pass from Jäkel and Skov Olsen was able to steal the ball. Adamyan again gratefully accepted the gift: 1-2.
Sharpening makes shards
Even after the break, Ostend remained in a generous mood. After a misunderstanding with Urhoghide, Scherpen could just keep Rits from the 1-3, but the goalkeeper didn’t look good on the corner that followed. The Dutchman unfortunately let a shot by Skov Olsen slip through his legs and also tapped the ball into the goal himself.
Ostend nevertheless tried to make something of it, but mainly escaped even more damage. Lang was allowed to participate in the final phase and was just unable to complete a nice rush on the right. Rits also came close to 1-4, but first the post and then Jäkel stood in the way on the goal line.
In extra time, Lang seemed to make it 1-4 after all when he was sent to Scherpen alone. But the Dutchman once again showed his form crisis and narrowly missed. Not a bad thing for Club, which thanks to Ostend booked a smooth victory and is so sure of its ticket for the Champions’ Play-offs.
Schreuder: “We forced the mistakes”
- Kjell Scherpen (goalkeeper KV Ostend): “We gave the goals as a gift today and Club wins, it’s as simple as that. It was one of my worst evenings, I don’t need to mince words. It just wasn’t good, this is an evening to quickly forgot I think we were the better team in the first half but I let the team down and we don’t go into the locker room tied. I take this defeat on me, the boys have worked hard. Now it’s head up again and on to the next one.”
- Alfred Schreuder (coach Club Brugge): “It’s a bit too easy to say that we needed help from the opponent. We forced it ourselves. We let them build up and wanted to chase them down, we did that well. Sometimes you have to give the opponent some space to be able to chase them off and we did that today. We can’t help that they make mistakes, we enforce that too. Besides those gifts, we also created many opportunities ourselves. In the second half we had the game “We have to decide earlier. We didn’t play a great game, but if you win 1-3 here, you can be satisfied. The game shown could only be better.”
- Yves Vanderhaeghe (coach KV Oostende): “Every now and then it became black before our eyes, you can’t win with so many mistakes. But the team did play well, we were really resilient. At times we put our foot next to Club. You are of course constantly behind the numbers “But they never gave up. There were still a number of opportunities to score, but then the sharpness and conviction were just not there. Scherpen made the wrong choice today, he should have just popped the ball into the stands. He knows that “We have missed the efficiency to score even more. When you fall behind against Club, it normally becomes a difficult game. But at no time did I feel that we were the lesser. That is a compliment to my team, but those mistakes are punished at this level and do not belong at this level.”
