Earning a draw in Anderlecht, every Kemphaan would have signed for it, but in the end it could have been more. Final conclusion was that some situations could have been played out better, still we can be very proud of the grinta and youthful enthusiasm this group shows every time.

KVC Westerlo

Coach Timmy Simons opted, for the first time this season, for a central trio at the back. Emin Bayram was finally match-fit enough to start in the starting line-up. He would also play an important role in this match. First, he headed in his mate Haspolat’s Ronaldo-like free-kick on the rebound, then he put a brilliant block – he just stayed standing nota bene – on Coosemans, causing him to misjudge the ball and the benjamin on the pitch Luka Vuskovic simply headed this opportunity against the ropes. Thus, the early deficit – a deflected ball – was rectified and our Kemphans held firm until the 85th minute. That’s when Stroeykens turned wonderfully away from his opponent and placed the ball under the body of Sinan Bolat.

With that three-man defence, someone also had to be ‘sacrificed’. Top marksman Allayhar took his place on the bench, after processing the apples and oranges at half-time, he was allowed to step up in place of the tired Josimar Alcocer, who had a tiring trip with his national team. Griffin Yow also stayed behind in the dressing room due to knee problems and Alfie Devine – given last-minute playing rights thanks to the brilliant work of our administrative staff – was allowed to make his debut.

A few minutes before time we also saw Jordan Bos back on the pitch, he had to leave the game early in the opening game against Cercle Brugge, and only eight weeks later he reappeared on the green mat. In terms of selection news, only Griffin Yow cannot be counted on, just how long he will be out of action is still a question mark.

Royal Antwerp FC

City’s men have suffered a trauma at the Kuip for years. It was only last season that they managed, for the first time in 26 years and 10 previous encounters, to get the full haul in the Kempen. Our losing coach of the time, Jonas De Roeck, is now at the helm of Tribe number 1.

A rocky start was faced by the reds, which gives that they currently occupy the 8th place in the standings, 3 points from number 2 Club Brugge. They won against Charleroi (0-1), Sint-Truiden (6-1) and Union (2-0), drew against Ghent (1-1) and lost against Anderlecht (1-2), Club Brugge (1-0) and the regional derby against KV Mechelen (0-1).

The millions (40) poured into Antwerp this summer with the sale of Ilekhena (Monaco), Keita (Parma), Ekkelenkamp (Udinese) and Yusuf (New England Revolution).  The players recruited were almost all free transfers and have packs of experience (Praet and Riedewald) as well as solid thirty-somethings like Chery and Odoi who both reached the age of 36.

The 11 goals scored came to the name of six different players: Chery (3), Ondrejka (3), Janssen (2) and Doumbia, Kerk and Valencia who each found their way to goal once.

Erik Lambrechts

This referee, who just turned 40 (17 September), is usually deployed when one of our top Belgian teams has to play. This season he got to whistle 5 games: 2 of Anderlecht and 2 of Club Brugge and the fifth game was Gent vs Westerlo …

In the 6 previous games at the Kuipje, under his guidance, we won twice (Virton 2-1) and Dessel (1-0) and lost four times (Charleroi 2-3), Tubeke (0-1) and twice against Anderlecht (0-1) and (0-3).

Text and statistics: Peter Boons