Westerlo sees its first victory in the Play-offs slip through goalkeeper Gillekens’ hands

Jupiler Pro League – matchday 5 – 23/04/24 – 20:30

The match between Westerlo and OH Leuven did not have a winner. The home team seemed to be on its way to a first victory in the Europe Play-offs for a long time, but Mathieu Maertens thought differently.

• Key moment: After Maertens had balanced the plates, the balloon seemed to quietly deflate at Westerlo. There was no final offensive, so the Gamecocks are still waiting for a first victory in the Play-offs.

• Man of the match: For a long time it seemed difficult to choose a man of the match, as precision was lacking on both sides. We eventually ended up at Mathieu Maertens. The Leuven captain capitalized on his team’s chances with the equalizer and fought as always in midfield.

• Unlucky: Nathan Opoku’s substitution turned out to be a nightmare. The young Ghanaian had only been on the field for about five minutes when he collided with Westerlo keeper Gillekens. The stretcher was soon brought in, his season seems to be over.

Westerlo hands it over again.

Both teams started the game sloppily, the danger mainly came from stationary phases. Both Westerlo and OHL were right on target, but precision was lacking on both sides.

Out of nowhere, Westerlo took the lead. Haspolat with a well-placed corner, Tagir headed the ball dry into the net.

OHL did not give up and moved forward. Brunes was nicely spooned through the Westerlo defense and delicately pinned the ball over Gillekens. Their joy was short-lived, the Norwegian started from an offside position.

A strong parade from Leuven goalkeeper Leysen on a free kick from Haspolat again marked the end of the first half. OHL had failed to capitalize on its chances.

The second half then to straighten out the people of Leuven.

They continued to build up quietly and did not seem to be in a hurry to equalize. Westerlo gave up. In the meantime, the temperature dropped sharply in the Kuipje, and the fans would not get warm from the game either.

Enter Mathieu Maertens: like a devil from a box, after nice preparatory work by Maziz and Mendyl, he tapped the ball past Gillekens, who did not intervene very well.

Surely victory wouldn’t slip through the fingers of the Gamecocks again (literally)?

Westerlo still wanted to, but a bicycle kick from Vermant in extra time was the best they had to offer. The 1-1 remained on the board until the final whistle.

Westerlo still has to wait for that first victory in the Conference Play-offs. It reaches 2/15, something will have to change if they want to end the season on a high note.

• Siebe Schrijvers (OHL): “Today we continue the line of the past weeks. It is very nice to play football and perhaps we deserve more than 1 point here. Disappointment naturally prevails after Opoku’s injury. We immediately saw that it was very serious, his leg is probably broken. Then you don’t think about playing football anymore.”

• Dogucan Haspolat (Westerlo): “We are disappointed that we do not keep the 3 points at home here. It was a game that we had to win, which is somewhat the story of our season. We should have taken our chances. I also hope that it is not too serious for Opoku, It was a serious blow. Hopefully he will be back on the field soon.”

• Bart Goor (coach Westerlo): “It wasn’t a great first half, but we still came out ahead. It’s a shame that we couldn’t capitalize on it and still concede a goal. We were close to that first victory, but it seems like a learning process to maintain that lead About Reynolds: I took him off at halftime because he was having problems with his hamstrings. It was mainly a precautionary substitution.”

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