10 Standard players have again given their coach Luka Elsner some breathing room against Beerschot. Dragus scored the only goal in the first half, after which Standard successfully defended the lead for a half with ten. It is only the third home win for Standard. For Beerschot, which played the game with reservations, the situation is gradually becoming hopeless.
Standard Beerschot in a nutshell
- Key moment: Beerschot is nowhere at all and Standard seems to be able to play it out easily after the break. Until Noë Dussenne is sent away because of a flapping arm. So it is still shivering for Standard, where Laurent Henkinet (the replacement for the disgraced captain Bodart) suddenly gets a lot of work.
- Man of the Match: Denis Dragus was already Standard’s top scorer and he also proved to Beerschot that he is the Rouches’ greatest offensive asset. The Romanian not only scored the only goal of the match, but he regularly kept Beerschot’s defense going during the difficult moments in the 2nd half.
- Rankings: Standard remains in 14th place, but it buys itself (and trainer Elsner) some breathing room in the relegation battle. It is now 9 points ahead of Seraing. With 5 matches ahead of us, that shouldn’t be a problem anymore. For Beerschot there is another chance to overtake away. The difference with the penultimate is still 7 points.
- Statistics: Noë Dussenne already received his 8th red card of his career in the Jupiler Pro League. Since he made his debut (in 2011), no one has done worse.
“With reservation”
“Beerschot plays against Standard with reservation”, “this is our line-up subject to change”, “we lost with reservation”,… At Beerschot, they did not miss an opportunity to underline that it really didn’t want to play this make-up match against Standard.
The match was already on the calendar in December, but could not be played due to a police strike. According to Beerschot, that was enough for a flat defeat. In protest, the Beerschot supporters sent their cat to Liège.
This saved them a painful first half, because, as is often the case this season, Beerschot did not get a foot on the ground. The visitors suddenly even made the moribund Standard look like a champions team. Dragus’ goal, after a heel from Raskin, was deserved.
Replacement of dumped Bodart is doing fine
Henkinet hardly got any work at Standard. The goalkeeper had been preferred over captain Bodart, who had not been really reliable in recent weeks. Henkinet was briefly put to the test in the 1st half on a flame from Dom.
After the break, the goalkeeper got a lot more work. That was mainly because Standard was reduced to his tens quite quickly. Dussenne wanted to block substitute Vaca, but dealt a blow.
After that, Standard couldn’t get a grip on that Vaca either, although it was lucky that the Bolivian’s visor was not adjusted properly. A few hot positions, a big collision (which gave 2 players a turban) and a nervous ending, Standard had to survive to achieve its 3rd home win. “Subject to change” that is.
Beerschot coach: “We don’t score, that remains the problem”
- Luka Elsner (Coach Standard): “A lot of positive things can be gained from this, but like everything else this season for us it was not easy. I do not think that Henkinet proved me right with his performance. All the players were at their level. I also think it is great how professional Arnaud with this situation has been dealt with.”
- Greg Vanderidt (Beerschot coach): “We came up short in the 1st half, we made good adjustments in the 2nd half. After that red card we went for it. We were very dangerous a few times, but we didn’t score the goal. That remains our problem. We have 5 games left, but I keep motivating my players. We will do that until the bitter end.”
