Philippe Clement opted for the same Starting XI as the one fighting Anderlecht on the weekend. Club beat OHL at its own turf last weekend 1-4, but this time coach Marc Brys was not keen on conceding too many goals, putting up a double defense, with Club hardly finding the space in the box. With the visitors keeping an eye out on the break, Mignolet was called upon twice, as he got hold of Mercier's shot, and was well in the way of Kaba's attempt from close range. A first threat by Club came through Lang, but without success.
Hardly taken aback, the home side switched to more movement in its game, unsettling the OHL defense. Club mounted the pressure, and a goal seemed closer and closer: Vanaken's header went wide, Rits deviated a cross in the side netting, Balanta's header ended up in the hands of goalie Rúnarsson and Vormer's free kick chipped off the wall into corner kick. To boot, ref Van Driessche waved play on as Vormer went down inside the box after a duel with Malinov.
The visitors' hope of reaching the break without conceding a goal, was blown to pieces by Charles De Ketelaere, making the most of a Mata cross and opening the score with a wel-timed header. Club kept coming, with more danger through a great rush by Lang, blocked just in time, and a hard shot by Rits, eagerly pawed away by Rúnarsson. Well into stoppage time of the first half, a second goal for Club came with impeccable timing, Eder Balanta finding his way to goal as he fumbled it in after a scrimmage.
With chances of elimination having taken a spike, the hosts started out the second half with fine intentions, leading to the 2-1 by Mercier as he fired it in from just outside the box.
No room for panic in Club's minds, however. De Ketelaere nabbed the ball from Özkacar on the right hand side and neatly found Noa Lang by the far post, tapping it in for Club's 3-1. Straight after that third goal, a productive De Ketelaere saw his shot deflected and go just wide. The visitors again tried to react, but an industrious Kaba was unable to frame his attempts, and found Jack Hendry on his way the third time he tried his luck.
No more goals for Leuven, but the home fans had one more goal in store for them, Hans Vanaken with the cherry on top from free kick.
Belgian Cup - Round of Eight
Audience: 10,000 – Jan Breydel Stadium
Ref: Mr. Bram Van Driessche
Club Brugge: Simon Mignolet – Clinton Mata (89’ Ignace Van der Brempt), Jack Hendry, Brandon Mechele, Eduard Sobol (89’ Federico Ricca) – Mats Rits, Éder Balanta (63’ Noah Mbamba), Hans Vanaken – Ruud Vormer (73’ Kamal Sowah), Charles De Ketelaere, Noa Lang (89’ ). Bench: Senne Lammens, Stanley Nsoki, Faitout Maouassa and Cisse Sandra. Coach: Philippe Clement.
Oud-Heverlee Leuven: Rúnar Alex Rúnarsson – Sofian Chakla, Sébastien Dewaest, Cenk Özkacar – Thibault Vlietinck (26’ Levan Shengelia), Kristiyan Malinov (72’ Mandela Keita), Siebe Schrijvers (81’ Alexis De Sart), Casper De Norre – Xavier Mercier, Sory Kaba, Mathieu Maertens (81’ Jesse Sekidika). Coach: Marc Brys
Yellow: Mechele, Malinov, Balanta.
Red: none
Goals: 40’ De Ketelaere (1-0), 45+5’ Balanta (2-0), 58’ Mercier (2-1), 64’ Lang (3-1), 91’ Vanaken (4-1).
Text by: Steven Floin (sv)
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