To keep up the rhythm during the international break, Thorsten Fink and his boys practiced against Roda JC, from the Dutch second division, on Thursday afternoon. Fink had a mix of first-team players supplemented with some boys from Jong Genk.
First half
During the first 45 minutes our boys would claim most of the ball possession. With some quick flank changes we hurt the visitors several times. Noah shifted the play well to Lukanic who reached the advanced Nkuba via Bonsu. From an acute angle, the latter shot into the side netting via the visiting goalkeeper. On the following corner, Marsman again fell flat on a striking header from Tolu. From the left, Zaka copied Ken’s trick to put Lukanic in front of goal. A Dutch leg prevented an early Genk lead. The visitors had clearly thoroughly analyzed our away match at Anderlecht. After fifteen minutes, visiting goalkeeper Marsman suddenly sat down for injury treatment. His teammates seized the moment to get some tactical adjustments from the bench. It brought some more balance to the party. Zauner and Seedorf (nephew of) found Van Crombrugge on their way from both flanks. 10 minutes before half-time, Schwirten was able to advance to leave Van Crombrugge without a chance with a hard low slide into the bottom right corner. Bangoura and twice prevented Tolu from re-balancing the signs. So we went to the dressing room with a 0-1 deficit.
Second half
El Ouahdi, Heynen, Lukanic and Van Crombrugge stayed inside after the break. Pierre, Akpan, Claes and Penders were allowed to appear in their place. The latter stood right on a powerful kick from the second line. The many substitutions slowed down the pace of the match during the second period. On the other side, a good steal by Tolu on the enemy 16 unfortunately saw an error. A little later, justice would be done. After a nice slalom from Adedeji-Sternberg in the box, Markelo hit the emergency brake. Tolu untenably signed from the spot for the 1-1 final score.
“Today’s match is especially important to keep the rhythm going. We played with a mix of players from the first team and Jong Genk and therefore did not train specifically for this match. In that respect, the focus is already on next week,” coach Fink concluded after the practice match.
Line-up
Van Crombrugge (’46 Penders), El Ouahdi (’46 Peter), Palacios, Sadick, Nkuba (’86 Martens), Heynen (’46 Akpan), Bangoura, Lukanic (’46 Claes), Adedeji-Sternberg (’86 Caicedo). ), Tolu, Monkey (’75 Lazarus).
Goals
’35 0-1 Schwirten
’72 1-1 Third
