Club NXT lost to Lommel SK in its first away game of the season. At the Soeverein Stadium, Blauw-Zwart held out for a long time against the Lommel offensive, thanks in part to a quasi unbeatable Nick Shinton in goal. The young goalkeeper even briefly turned out to be a penalty hero in the second half. In the absolute closing stages, Dos Santos was able to chase the ball into the net.
Coach Nicky Hayen missed with Homma and Vermant two tastemakers of the fine victory against Lierse. Peréz and captain Audoor started in the starting line-up. Goalkeeper Shinton had not traveled with the first team to Akureyri and defended the Bruges goal. He soon had to show his talents on several occasions. Indeed, Lommel started very attacking and Club NXT was a shadow of its former self compared to the previous match. Lommel dominated in all areas. Zalan Vancsa popped towards goal first, but our goallie went well flat and blocked the hard shot. Afterwards, he also floated a header from Vetokele out of his goal. Our youngsters had a very hard time threatening goalkeeper De Busser.
Just before the half-hour mark, Shinton pushed Sales' shot into a corner. A few minutes later he had to do the same again on an identical shot by Granell. Sales passed to Aguilar on another attack, who popped the leather in front of the Blue-Black goal. Vetokele came inches short of deviating Aguilar's cross into goal. Shortly before halftime, De Roeve went for his chance, but his shot missed the right direction and disappeared wide. Club NXT went to rest with a flattered 0-0 on the scoreboard.
After halftime the game did not change much. Club NXT did create some small chances. Goalkeeper De Busser had little trouble. On the other side Zalan Vancsa continued to be a scourge for our youngsters. Nick Shinton also had to do a lot of work after halftime to keep the scoreboard at zero. A shot by Aguilar was expertly stopped by him. Fifteen minutes before the end of the game, the referee whistled for a penalty kick after an alleged hand by De Smet. Not to worry, Vetokele's penalty was kept out of the bottom right corner by the unbeatable Shinton.
Coach Hayen replaced striker Pérez with defender Laurens Goemaere. It remained one-way soccer. When Shinton was beaten anyway, Seys made the ultimate save on the line. Lommel coach Stephen Bould was close to despair and threw some fresh forces into his team. It would pay off because shortly before the end of the match Vancsa again served the completely free Dos Satos, who floored our goalie. 1-0 in the added time, very sour for our youngsters who thus saw an unexpected and hard-fought point slip away. But all in all a deserved victory for a strong Lommel. Club NXT U23 will play their next match next Friday at Jong Genk.
Club NXT: Nick Shinton, Joaquin Seys, Amin Et-Taïbi, Jano Willems, Denzel De Roeve, William Simba, Liam De Smet, Sem Audoor, Mohamed Salah, Daniel Peréz (77' Laurens Goemaere), Victor Barbera (85' Kaye Furo). Bench: Henri Maton, Tobias Jensen, Alejandro Granados, Alexander Vandeperre, Bruce Deuwel. Coach Nicky Hayen.
Lommel SK: Jari De Busser, Sam De Grand, Dries Wouters, Yeboah Amankwah, Kluiverth Aguilar, Karim Dermane, Lucas Schoofs, Alex Granell (90' Glenn Neven), Zalan Vancsa, Igor Vetokele (90' Caué Dos Santos), Arthur Sales (83' Juho Talvitie). Coach Steve Bould.
Goal: 90 + 3' Dos Santos 1-0.
Yellow cards: Granell, Dos Santos.
Referee: Hannes De Couvreur.
Stadium: Souverein Stadium.