Club was a bridge too far. However, the start – we are talking about the first ten minutes – was promising. Now losing at the Jan Breydel is no disgrace. We knew there was still (a lot of) work to be done. From this match, we therefore mainly remember the warm welcome our coach received from the entire entourage and supporters of blue and black.

KVC Westerlo

This week we were allowed to welcome (birthday) striker Romeo Vermant. He will join our Kemphans on a rental basis, until the end of the season. Certainly not an unnecessary luxury, when you know that Mathias Fixelles came in to relieve Erdon Daci in that position in the second half. Depancing where possible is what they call it then.

Matija Frigan also returned to group training this week and Lucas Stassin – who was given a few days off after his surgery to be pampered at the casa de mama, also appeared at the club.

Thus, two players (Vaesen and Stassin) are now walking around with a nice firming moonboot in the brand new training ground.

Our balance sheet at Gent-away looks thin. Already 25 times we were allowed to make the trip to the Ghelamco Arena. Our last victory there dates from 2009, when we managed to make up a 1-0 deficit in the last 10 minutes of the match. First, Adnan Mravac scored the equaliser from the spot and Bertin Tomou managed to kick the winning goal – after an assist by Jef Delen – into the net in the last second of the match.

The year after followed our only draw there, a spectacular 4-4, after again trailing 3-0 and again a goal in the closing seconds, this time by Daniel Chavez.

Final balance: 25 matches, 4 wins, 1 draw and 20 defeats.

Did you know ?

• Bryan Reynolds can claim the most starting places this season. He has been allowed to start in 18 of the 21 games played.
• Nicolas Madsen is our top marksman with eight goals in the league and one in the Croky Cup? That before coming to Westerlo, he had not scored a single goal at the highest level with FC Midtjylland in 41 appearances.
• Brand-new recruit Romeo Vermant was born in Gelsenkirchen, when his dad played there with Schalke 04. That he plays with the back number 17, which his daddy also had at that same German club.
• Arthur Piedfort has to remain suspended on the sidelines this match, after his double yellow card in Bruges?
• Sydorchuk and Jordanov are on edge with 4 yellow cards already and must watch out for another yellow cardboard?
• We had to change our kit for this match and were not allowed to use any blue colours by the Football Association. That we will then play in our white shorts from last season with a yellow jersey.

KAA Gent

Coach Vanhaezebrouck rarely loses to Westerlo. In his career, he already coached 21 games against our Kemphans, losing only three of them. In the 2010-2011 season, this then happened three times in a row with his then team: KV Kortrijk.

Gent’s coffers were well filled this winter. No less than 29 million euros were added. Both Malick Fofana and Gift Orban were sold to French Olympique Lyon, who are experiencing difficult times in the Ligue 1 this season.

For the time being, only Daisuke Yokota, a Japanese who played at Poland’s Gornik Zabrze, and his compatriot Daniel Schmidt were also recruited as a backup goalkeeper after first goalkeeper Nardi dropped out.

Schmidt is of course familiar from STVV, but he will now have to work hard, as Davy Roef is also currently struggling with a hamstring injury.

Also absent will be defenders Watanabe and Fortuna, midfielder Hong and striker Tissoudali, all currently playing at the Asian Cup.

So is the team weakened after the recent (home) defeats against Club Brugge (0-1) and KV Mechelen (1-2)?

Judge for yourself based on their transfer market value, expressed in millions of euros: Schmidt (1.2), Samoise (3.5), Agbor (0.3), Kandouss (4), Brown (5), De Sart (6), Kums (0.5), Gerkens (1.8), Yokota (1), Gandelman (2) and Cuypers (11). A total value of 36.3 million euros (KVC Westerlo’s starting eleven was worth 14 million last week)

Simon Bourdeaud’Hui

•  27 years old
•  This season was his debut in the top division
•  4 games this season in JPL, including OHL vs Westerlo (0-2)
•  8 games in the Challenger Pro League
•  In the past: twice Westerlo and two wins, including a 2-0 win against Virton at the time
•  First time match for Gent

Text and statistics: Peter Boons