Club Brugge suffers sour 0-2 defeat against Westerlo

On match day 11 of the Jupiler Pro League, Blauw-Zwart hosted KVC Westerlo at home. Before halftime, neither team found its way to the nets, but after halftime Westerlo took the lead through Foster. Club kept pouncing on Bolat and in the end Foster captured the 0-2 final score with his second of the evening. Sour defeat for Club...

After Tuesday's fantastic win against Atletico Madrid, coach Hoefkens felt it was important to do some rotation against KVC Westerlo. Among others, Jutglà, Sowah and Sylla were not in the squad. That way, we saw Spileers, Lang and Yaremchuk in the starting lineup again. In addition, Mata, Skov Olsen and Sobol were also given the confidence to start. With the visitors, the most notable name in the starting lineup was De Cuyper, given his past at Club. Van Den Keybus and Dierckx started on the bench.

The match started fairly evenly, but it was Club that immediately claimed the ball. That immediately resulted after 5 minutes in a good opportunity for Lang. Nielsen put good pressure on Westerlo's defense and this put Lang in possession of the ball. His attempt was cleared off the line. Blauw-Zwart continued to attack and Nielsen cut himself free just outside the sixteen. However, his shot was too central and not hard enough to threaten Bolat. The visitors' goalkeeper was the only one who had work to do in the opening quarter, as he also had to intervene when Yaremchuk was sent deep. On the quarter hour mark, Club's best chance fell: Skov Olsen pushed forward well and was able to put the ball in front of goal. Yaremchuk again hit Bolat and Vanaken kicked the ball over the goal. On the other hand, Westerlo threatened once through Foster, but his header on Akbunar's cross went wide.

Westerlo tried more and more to restore the balance, but Club tried to respond again. Through a quick combination, Lang found Nielsen with a heel. The latter did not hesitate to kick immediately, but his blast was deflected into a corner with his head. On the half hour the biggest chance for Westerlo fell. Foster headed the ball back for Chadli, who popped it just wide of the post. The home team was awake again and responded almost immediately with a free kick from Nielsen. He cut the ball well, but no one could deviate the leather and the ball went just wide of the post. Moments later, it was Yaremchuk's turn. Skov Olsen gave the ball to Onyedika, who immediately tapped through to Yaremchuk. Unfortunately, the latter popped the ball in front. Just before half-time, Mignolet had to show his skills: first he stopped an attempt by De Cuyper and also Akbunar did not get past the Bruges goalie. We rested without a goal...

The same 22 tenors started the second half and it was Club that immediately went on the attack. Skov Olsen put himself behind the ball for a free kick, but his shot went over Bolat's cage. However, it was Westerlo that took the lead against all odds. Nene pushed forward well and was able to head towards Mignolet. Mignolet reacted well at first, but Foster kicked the rebound into the net. The visitors continued to counter to their heart's content: Reynolds put the ball in front of goal and Chadli headed in a corner via Mata. Coach Hoefkens reacted by bringing in Nusa and Buchanan. The latter immediately made himself noticed with a nice action, but his blast was a little too central to outsmart Bolat.

From now on, Westerlo limited themselves to defending and Club kept looking for that equalizer. The main opposition was a rock solid Bolat. First, he parried a shot by Vanaken in the near corner, and immediately after that he saved a Skov Olsen shot from under his crossbar. Around minute 80, Club got a corner kick and Spileers timed well. His header was unfortunately not hard enough to beat the visiting goalkeeper. Blauw-Zwart kept coming and Vanaken found Larin in the depth. He tried to beat Bolat with an upward pass, but he hit the ball the wrong way and it went wide. Club thus failed to shake the nets and Westerlo made the evening even more painful. A free kick ended up at the feet of Foster, who simply kicked his second of the evening past Mignolet from close range.

Blauw-Zwart had no more reaction to the visitors' second goal and thus went down 0-2. After the triumph on Tuesday, this was a bitter defeat against an efficient Westerlo. Not much time to dwell on it though, as Atletico Madrid awaits on Wednesday!

Jupiler Pro League - Day 11
Spectators: 29,042 - Jan Breydelstadion
Referee: Bert Put
Club Brugge: Simon Mignolet - Clinton Mata (68' Denis Odoi), Brandon Mechele, Jorne Spileers - Andreas Skov Olsen, Casper Nielsen (87' Cisse Sandra), Raphael Onyedika, Hans Vanaken, Eduard Sobol (57' Tajon Buchanan) - Noa Lang (57' Antonio Nusa), Roman Yaremchuk (67' Cyle Larin).
Bench: Senne Lammens, Nick Shinton, Denis Odoi, Bjorn Meijer, Éder Balanta, Cisse Sandra, Cyle Larin, Tajon Buchanan, Antonio Nusa.
Coach: Carl Hoefkens.
KVC Westerlo: Sinan Bolat - Bryan Reynolds (73' Roman Neustädter), Ravil Tagir, Rubin Seigers, Maxim De Cuyper - Halil Akbunar (73' Tuur Dierckx), Lucas Da Silva Izidoro (81' Mathias Fixelles), Nicolas Madsen, Nacer Chadli (64' Kyan Vaesen) - Lyle Foster, Dorgeles Nene (81' Thomas Van Den Keybus).
Bank: Nick Gillekens, Mathias Fixelles, Kyan Vaesen, Muhammed Gümüskaya, Roman Neustädter, Thomas Van Den Keybus, Tuur Dierckx.
Coach: Jonas De Roeck.

Yellow cards: Bolat
Red cards: none
Goals: 53' Foster (0-1), 86' Foster (0-2)