It was an ex-Kemphaan who gave us the tie last week. Yentl Van Genechten was in the right place twice to poke the ball against the nets, after our own boys were able to keep the ball in their own ranks by as much as 60% and also registered 22 goal attempts. Fortunately, at the very end, the home goalkeeper let the ball slip out of his hands and Lucas Stassin was able to put the nevertheless deserved equaliser on the board.

KVC Westerlo

Coach Jonas De Roeck opted for the first game – just like last season – again for the players who were already used to the Westerlo system. Only left-back Jordan Bos could immediately count on a starting place. Strikers Frigan and Stassin had to be satisfied with a seat on the bench. Their substitutions – again, this tradition continues – were to be savoured. Matija promptly gave the smart pass to Fixelles, resulting in the ball ending up on the spot. Stassin showed that he has a nose for goals, being in the right place after that unfortunate intervention by goalkeeper Nurudeen. 

Meanwhile, Bryan Reynolds has also put his signature on a new contract and is the permanent property of the club. Our Yankee is immediately employable after he ran at a high level playing football for team USA during the Gold Cup last month.

Traditionally, a game against Club Brugge is usually one where we draw the shorter straw, then again, last season Club were the only team unable to pin a single ball against our nets and we pulled off a 4/6. Twice Sinan Bolat was the hero of the day. The Bruges players shot 52x towards goal in those two mutual matches and yet the zero remained on the scoreboard. We ourselves scored twice from 17 ripe goal chances.

In hindsight, a true feat we allowed to be recorded.

Club Brugge

Everyone had hoped to see “our curly head” again, albeit in the opposing team’s shirt. Max is still super loved by our fans and everyone wished him that return to his beloved Club at the start of the season.

Fate decided otherwise. Twice yellow is red and automatically a matchday suspension. Wonder what must have been going on in his head then, around 8pm last Sunday when he had to leave the pitch.

Coach Deila will thus already be forced to tinker with his defence. In the past three games (KV Mechelen and 2x European against Aarhus), the same trio were always on the match sheet: 18-year-old Spileers, experienced Brandon Mechele – already played 376 games for Club – and Max. 

Other certitudes for Sunday include goalkeeper Mignolet, right flank Tajon Buchanan, central midfielders Onyedika and Vanaken and strikers Olsen and Thiago. 

For the left flank Dutchman Björn Meijer will probably be chosen, for the third central midfield spot will be either Mats Rits – once scored his first goal(s) in professional football against Westerlo or Norwegian acquisition Hugo Vetlesen.

Jan Boterberg

• 37 years old
• Affiliated to Zeehaven Zeebrugge
• Debut: 20/08/2016 (Mouscron vs STVV 2-1)
• Matches:
  • KVC Westerlo: 4 (0 wins – 2 draws – 2 losses)
  • Matches Club Brugge: 6 (5 wins – 1 draw)
• Matches at the Kuipje: 1 (Charleroi 0-0 on 22/10/2016)

Text and statistics: Peter Boons