Remontada @Mechelen, for the second year in a row we had to suffer this term. Sour of course, especially when you start revisiting and analysing the conscious phase of the red card. Then again, even more sour is the explanation from the refereeing department, who for the third time this season apologised for the wrong decision made by their colleague during a match.

KVC Westerlo

After his 2 good, but short substitutions, this was the moment, for interim coach Bart Goor, to bring Josimar Alcocer on from the start for once. Our Costa Rican thanked his coach with this opportunity and immediately made it 0-1. Arthur Piedfort then rejoined Bakary Haidara. In his previous appearances, in the Kempish jersey, Arthur was invariably played out as a defensive midfielder, this time he went to work as a central defender.

The following five players will be forced to watch the match from the sidelines: the suspended Madsen and Vermant and the rehabilitating trio Chadli, Bayram and Bos. Karol Borys and Bakary Haidara reinforced our U19 for the return match in Anderlecht last Wednesday, as part of the semi-final for the Belgian Cup. In the end, our young promising Kemphians went down after taking penalties.

The tradition with Standard home falls in our favour. In the last five meetings at the Kuipje, we won four times and drew once, with a goal difference of 13 to 5. The last thing we can say of our team is that in 30 league games we did not “grab” a single red card and now 3 in 2 games! So twice in a row we had to continue with 10 men for an entire second half, and then you know it’s going to be difficult.

Standard Liege

For goals, you should not go and watch a match of the Liège side this season. During a Standard game, in the regular league, you saw 74 goals (33 for and 41 against) and only KV Mechelen, with one goal less, did worse. Coach Leko will then again look for his first career three-peat against Westerlo. In the three previous encounters, he managed to salvage a draw once and lost twice.

For Standard too, these play-offs are nothing more than glorified practice matches. They already face an 11-point deficit against leaders Gent after three matchdays. There is not much unscripted drama – as the Pro League so nicely puts it – in this.

13 players from the current core have already managed to find their way to goal. Striker Wilfried Kanga is the gobbler here with 11, midfielder Kawabe has already vibrated the nets 7 times and in third place is Ghanaian Italian Yeboah with 4 in 9 appearances.

Last game against STVV, like us, they still gave away a two-goal lead. In minute 81 they were still leading 1-3 and 7 minutes later the signs were back in balance. It is also noteworthy that they score 70% of their goals only in the second half.

Simon Bourdeaud’Hui

This East Fleming has whistled more matches in the Challenger Pro League (11) than in the Jupiler Pro League (6) this season. Fun fact is that on matchday 9 in the CPL, he faced no less than 2 games in one weekend. Westerlo was on his menu twice this season, twice away from home: OHL (0-2) and Gent (2-2).

Once before, he was a guest at Kuipje. On a Sunday afternoon in October 2021, he then whistled the match against Virton, which we already won at the time after goals from Kyan Vaesen and Erdon Daci.

Text and statistics: Peter Boons