Club Brugge suffered a 3-2 defeat at STVV. An early lead through Tzolis was overturned by Muja and Ito. With twenty minutes to go, Kaye Furo scored the deserved equalizer, but a goal by Ferrari sent Club back to Bruges empty-handed.
With Union drawing against AA Gent, Club was given the chance to sneak closer to the league leaders. Nicky Hayen made no changes to the team that defeated OH Leuven in the Cup on Wednesday. Dani van den Heuvel was back in goal, while goal scorer Hugo Vetlesen also retained his starting place.
The visitors started the game in fine spirits, and just three minutes in, Stanković put Tzolis alone on his way to goal, but goalkeeper Kokubo saved. Moments later, a drop shot by that same Tzolis whizzed over goal. STVV responded with a deviation by Goto that went wide, while Ito kicked the ball past Onyedika. Club was the better team though and took the lead after fifteen minutes: Tzolis with the perfect rush on the left wing, finding Onyedika in front of goal to hammer the 0-1 past Kokubo.
The Canaries are having an excellent season and refused to give up. They regained balance soon after. Van den Heuvel was able to save Ito's shot at first, but the Club defense could not adequately clear the ball, allowing Arbnor Muja to slap in the equalizer. Adding salt to injury, Club conceded a second ten minutes later on as Mechele unfortunately got the ball against his arm from close range. Referee Van Driessche initially let the game continue, but after reviewing the footage he pointed to the spot. Ryotaro Ito kicked the eleven-meter mark without fail. At the break, Van den Heuvel was able to prevent a third goal after a fine save on a shot by Ito.
After the break, Carlos Forbs joined the team at the expense of Aleksandar Stanković, claiming his usual place on the right wing, and allowing Vetlesen to advance to midfield. The home team was able to create danger early on, but Seys defended very sharply, preventing Muja from printing. On the other side, Club came even closer to a goal: Forbs served Tzolis but the Greek missed his shot. Moments later, a shot by Forbs was blocked just in time.
Club retained control in the second half and came closer and closer to the equalizer. After a corner kick from Tzolis, Vanaken headed the ball towards the top corner, but Kokubo had an excellent reflex in store. The goalkeeper then also saved a hard shot by Mechele, while a shot by Tzolis went wide. Moments before, Cisse Sandra and Kaye Furo had stepped in and it was the latter who provided the equalizer. Tzolis launched Furo and he cleverly scored his first goal for Club's seniors.
Immediately after, Club almost added a third: after a fine attack Vetlesen saw his shot turned away just before the line by Musliu. Instead of 2-3, however, it became 3-2. The first chance after halftime for the hosts went straight in: Ferrari deviated a cross from Merlen into goal with a clever bicycle kick, bringing STVV back into the lead. The home team had more chances through Musliu, Ferrari, Merlen and Ito, but Club also had several threats: a hard shot by Furo smashed against the crossbar, a deviation by Vetlesen was saved by Kokubo, and a scrimmage in front of goal didn't produce anything either. A second defeat on a spin for Club, now five points behind Union.
Jupiler Pro League - Match Day 17
Audience: 10,000 - Daio Wasabi Stayen Stadium
Referee: Mr. Bram Van Driessche
STVV: Leo Kokubo - Rein Van Helden, Shogo Taniguchi, Visar Musliu, Robert-Jan Vanwesemael (75' Simen Juklerod) - Rihito Yamamoto (75' Ryan Merlen), Abdoulaye Sissako, Ryotaro Ito - Arbnor Muja (87' Wolke Janssens), Keisuke Goto (73' Andrés Ferrari), Ilias Sebaoui. Coach: Wouter Vrancken.
Club Brugge: Dani van den Heuvel - Hugo Siquet (64' Cisse Sandra), Joel Ordóñez, Brandon Mechele, Joaquin Seys (85' Jorne Spileers) - Aleksandar Stanković (46' Carlos Forbs), Raphael Onyedika (85' Gustaf Nilsson), Hans Vanaken - Hugo Vetlesen, Nicolò Tresoldi (64' Kaye Furo), Christos Tzolis. Bank: Argus Vanden Driessche, Stefan Ostoici, Bjorn Meijer, Kyriani Sabbe and Mamadou Diakhon.
Coach: Nicky Hayen.
Yellow: Yamamoto, Vanwesemael, Sandra.
Red: none
Goals: 16' Onyedika (0-1), 21' Muja (1-1), 32' Ito (penalty, 2-1), 70' Furo (2-2), 81' Ferrari (3-2).