
Clement made two changes to his starting line-up compared to last week's match against Cercle. Noah Mbamba replaced Matej Mitrović as the right central defender in the three-man defence. In midfield Hans Vanaken started for the first time this season, forcing Mats Rits on the bench. Up front Noa Lang teamed up with Charles De Ketelaere.
Club had most of the ball pretty much from the first whistle, but it were the hosts that carved out the first chances. Mignolet was forced into making a save by Vossen, while Dompé's long-range effort sailed just wide. Club upped the tempo and created two fine chances: De Ketelaere diverted Vanaken's cross towards goal and a few moments later Mbamba let fly a left-footed strike from outside the penalty box. Both efforts were kept out by Bostyn.
Twenty minutes into the game, the match was temporarily stopped because part of the stadium lights had gone out. After a good ten minutes, the power failure was solved and the match could be resumed.
The blue and black restarted the first half with the same enthusiasm and came closer and closer to a goal: Lang's shot went wide, De Ketelaere was stopped by Bostyn and De Ketelaere aimed the rebound, after an effort by Lang, against the post. But a few minutes before the half-time whistle, Club had their long sought-after goal: De Ketelaere latched onto a perfectly threaded pass by Vanaken before squaring it to Noa Lang who finished it off.
Club pushed through after the break and almost immediately doubled their lead. Vanaken slammed Mata's cross just wide and Lang couldn't tap in the rebound after Vanaken's volley was palmed away. Lang and Vanaken tried their luck again, but Lang's shot sailed wide and Bostyn saved Vanaken's attempt. Just past the hour-mark Club scored the well-deserved second goal when Lang feeded Vormer inside the box and the skipper thumped home from close range. No chance for Bostyn as Vormer's shot took a deflection on a defender.
Immediately after Vormer's goal De Ketelaere saw his goal disallowed for offside, but it was just a matter of time. The youngster played the ball into the path of Vanaken who slotted home: 0-3.
The blue and black were elusive as they played with a lot of movement and position changes. With fifteen minutes on the clock Club scored another goal. Lang crossed the ball towards Sobol who's one-touch pass played De Ketelaere free in front and he didn't miss.
The tempo dropped quickly after the fourth goal. Club was still in control, but failed to score a fifth. Ruud Vormer's effort sailed just over the crossbar. In the final minutes Tibo Persyn made his debut for the blue and black and in stoppage time Sobol was booked a second time which meant Club ended the game with ten. After four league matches, Club trails Union and Oostende by one point.
Jupiler Pro League – Fixture 4
Attendance: 6.000 – Elindus Arena
Referee: Lawrence Visser
Zulte Waregem: Louis Bostyn - Cameron Humphreys, Ewoud Pletinckx (76’ Alieu Fadera), Laurens De Bock - Bent Sørmo, David Hubert, Abdoulaye Sissako, Lasse Vigen Christensen, Jean-Luc Dompé - Jelle Vossen (58’ Dion De Neve), Zinho Gano. Coach: Francky Dury.
Club Brugge: Simon Mignolet – Noah Mbamba (80’ Ignace Van der Brempt), Brandon Mechele, Stanley Nsoki – Clinton Mata (87’ Tibo Persyn), Ruud Vormer, Éder Balanta, Hans Vanaken, Eduard Sobol - Charles De Ketelaere, Noa Lang. Bench: Senne Lammens, Nick Shinton, Matej Mitrović, Federico Ricca, Mats Rits, Youssouph Badji, Bas Dost en Daniel Pérez. Coach: Philippe Clement.
Yellow cards: Vormer, Vossen, Sobol, Fadera, Persyn.
Red cards: 93’ Sobol (2x yellow).
Goals: 42’ Lang (0-1), 65’ Vormer (0-2), 69’ Vanaken (0-3), 75’ De Ketelaere (0-4).
Report - Steven Floin