With Club Brugge – KVC Westerlo, coach Rik De Mil returned to his old stomping grounds. The mutual respect before the match was immense, but the desire to secure points was certainly there as well.

Lineup KVC Westerlo: S. Bolat, N. Madsen, S. Sydorchuk, G. Yow (71′ M. Fixelles), E. Daci (71′ N. Chadli), B. Reynolds, T. Rommens (71′ R. Tagir), R. Neustädter, T. Van Den Keybus, E. Bayram, A. Piedfort

First half

Perhaps it was still with the impressive stunt from last year at Jan Breydel in mind, but our Kemphanen took possession in the early stages against Club Brugge. However, it was the home team that created the first real danger. A header from Thiago hitting the post was the first attempt on target, a minute later, his teammate De Cuyper had the first shot on goal. However, his shot was easily stopped by Bolat.

This prompted our Kemphanen to offer some extra resistance. A brisk American combination on the right between Reynolds and Yow cut through the Bruges defense, but an alert De Cuyper hastily cleared the ball away from the goalmouth.

While the loyal Westel fan had a spontaneous flashback to how that same De Cuyper last season similarly cleared a shot from the line against blue-black in yellow and blue, it was Igor Thiago who abruptly punctured that beautiful memory by sliding in the opening goal just before half-time. The 1-0 halftime score was thus a fact in an otherwise fairly evenly matched first half.

Second half

After the break, Club explicitly claimed possession. The Bruges players sought a second goal and were somewhat aided by an unfortunate flapping arm of Daci that a header from Vetlesen fluttered against. Thiago confidently placed himself behind the ball but had the luck – and a strange curve on the ball – on his side when converting the penalty.

In the final stages of the match, the cup had to be completely emptied for our Kemphanen. A lob from Vanaken managed to beat Westel goalkeeper Bolat, and the toe of Nusa made the administrative 3-0 final score a reality.

Report: Glen Van Herck
Photos: Nico Vereecken/Photo News