Jordy Roelandts makes his debut as a forward and immediately puts Asse-Zellik on the road to victory and second place: “Defeat on the opening day has shaken us up” (Dilbeek)

Asse-Zellik has been doing well in recent weeks. After the victory against leader Beersel-Drogenbos, the merged club also beat neighbor Hekelgem 1-3 on Saturday. Jordy Roelandts, normally left back but now as an experiment a left winger for the first time, broke open the match with the early 0-1.

Last season, Roelandts played at Groot-Dilbeek, but after the relegation there he opted for a new adventure at Asse-Zellik. “I would also have liked to stay at Groot-Dilbeek. But Asse-Zellik pulled my sleeve and convinced me with an ambitious project aimed at first provincial. Of course it was quite nice that I quickly managed to score in my first match as an attacker by heading a free kick from Geoffrey Cabeke. We are in a good flow with the entire team. We had already underlined this a week earlier by winning in Drogenbos. We ultimately ended up one point shy of the first period title. We lost to BOKA United on the first matchday, but afterwards we had a good series. That defeat woke us up.”

The 23-year-old student is particularly pleased with the good atmosphere at the merged club. “I started my studies again and am now pursuing a master’s degree in health sciences. On Sunday we open the second period with a home match against Kester-Gooik. That could be a tough one again. All right, the atmosphere in our group is excellent and could well become an asset in the title battle. We will go through fire for each other.”

Trainer Xavier De Groote, who was of course delighted after the derby win, was also very pleased with Roelandts. “The experiment with him as a left winger turned out to be a stroke of luck,” said De Groote. “Jordy filled his new position excellently and scored a goal. We knew that Hekelgem was a team with a lot of mentality, running ability and dueling power. It was not easy on that large field given the circumstances. We finished 0-2, but got ourselves into trouble with a goal. Fortunately, we were able to get the win. After the victory over Beersel-Drogenbos, we continued our momentum and the title battle is now completely open again. We want to fight for the title for as long as possible, with a ticket for the final round as the minimum reward.”