Antwerp – Racing Genk
Antwerp won the top match in the Jupiler Pro League on Saturday. The Great Old won 3-2 against Racing Genk. Michel-Ange Balikwisha was the man of the match with two goals. Antwerp is currently in sixth place in the rankings, with 20 points. That is one less than number five Genk.
Antwerp started the game very sharply. After five minutes, Janssen finished off a nice attack by the Great Old from close range, 1-0. For the Dutchman, this ended a series of ten games without a goal. Genk was not awake and after eleven minutes it was already 2-0. Another collective attack by the home team ended at the far post at Balikwisha, who left Vandevoordt without a chance. A dream start for the national champion. The Limburgers only started playing football and Butez immediately had to take action on attempts by Zeqiri and McKenzie.
It kept going up and down. For Genk, Zeqiri passed Butez, but then kicked the post. Antwerp saw Janssen’s goal disallowed for offside. Balikwisha seemed to suffer the same fate after a nice long ball from Alderweireld, but the wing attacker was allowed to cheer after the intervention of the VAR, 3-0. A blow for Genk, but they recovered quickly. Bataille incomprehensibly gave the ball to Zeqiri and the Swiss defeated Butez, 3-1.
After a great first half, the second period also started promisingly. Balikwisha soon hit the post. The wing attacker came close to a hat-trick later in the second half with a shot on the crossbar. Genk had the most initiative, but had more difficulty creating opportunities. The tying goal came nine minutes into stoppage time. Munoz headed in the rebound after a free kick from Paintsil hit the crossbar. That’s it. Final score: 3-2.
Westerlo – OHL
Westerlo got rid of the red lantern after a 0-2 win against Oud-Heverlee Leuven. The Gamecocks came out on top after goals from Nicolas Madsen (63) and Sergiy Sydorchuk (69).
New OHL coach Oscar Garcia saw a mediocre first half from the stands with few goal chances. OHL left back Mendyl brought down Reynolds in the box after the hour mark. Ref Bourdeaud’hui pointed to the spot. Madsen sent Prévot the wrong way: 0-1. Moments later, a falling ball landed at the feet of Sydorchuk, who made a blistering swing towards the far corner and doubled the lead on the scoreboard. A final offensive hardly came about for the home team afterwards.
Westerlo has thus received a much-needed boost, after the pressure on Jonas De Roeck had increased following Wednesday’s elimination in the Belgian Cup by second division club SK Beveren (3-1).
RWDM – KV Kortrijk
The people of Kortrijk took the lead after an effort by Mighten on the left flank. Davies’ attempt on his cross was turned away, but in the restart Ojo hit the target. But RWDM responded quickly with Camara’s equalizer, who headed the ball in via the post. Shortly afterwards, Kortrijk goalkeeper Vandenberghe had to do everything he could to tackle a breakaway shot from Sanchez.
After the break, Vandenberghe was again alert to a crossed shot from substitute Mboup. The level of the basement duel went down afterwards.
With 14 points, RWDM, which has been waiting for a win for six competition matches, climbs to eleventh place over Charleroi. KV Kortrijk remains penultimate with 9 points, two more than Westerlo. The Red Lantern plays against number 13 OH Leuven at 6:15 PM.
