On the fourth game day of the season, Club NXT U23 hosted Walloon RFC Seraing. In the first half, Furo scored his fourth of the season. Lenn De Smet missed a penalty. The lead was erased in the 75th minute by Nils Schouterden.
A win against the Liègemen could secure a provisional lead. Coach Veldman had a fully fit core at his disposal after the international break. Our youngsters started the game strongly. After only five minutes a first shot by Lund Jensen was saved on the line. The visitors started the season with zero on nine and had not descended to The NEST to get slaughtered. They caught our youngsters well for a while, without creating chances of their own.
After nearly half an hour of play, Granados kicked a free kick inches wide of the post. Club NXT increasingly pressured the Liège players backwards. Via a nice attack, De Roeve gave the perfect assist for Furo who scored the 1-0 in two shots. Shortly after, the ref whistled for hands in the penalty area. Lenn De Smet unfortunately kicked the penalty at the post.
Seraing underwent the game. After another fine attack through Granados and Lenn De Smet, Furo kicked over the Liège goal. Just before rest, goalkeeper Axl De Corte almost gave the visitors the chance to score the equalizer. He put the ball into play poorly, allowing Seraing to conquer the leather. The attempt went wide of the Bruges goal.
In the second half, the first chance was for the visitors. Schouterden kicked too softly allowing De Corte to easily grab the ball. Seraing played more aggressively and used their physical strength and stature to make the match more balanced. Lund Jensen regularly set up individual action, with no end result unfortunately. First, his shot was too weak to surprise goalkeeper Margueron. Later in the match, his blast ended up on the crossbar. De Roeve had done that to him earlier. His inbounds shot also stranded on the crossbar.
Club NXT created a lot of chances, but failed to score. Granados found himself alone in front of the visiting goalie, but he was unable to outsmart him. Meanwhile, a lot of substitutions were made by both teams.
On a rehearsed corner kick, Schouterden ran clear and was able to net the 1-1 unopposed. It was Seraing's first real chance. With fifteen minutes left on the clock Club NXT tried to move heaven and earth to keep the three points at home, but unfortunately they were unable to score. Thus the match ended 1-1.
A sour loss for our youngsters who missed the opportunity to take the lead after four days of play. Next Sunday Blauw-Zwart plays SK Deinze.
Club NXT U23: Axl De Corte, Denzel De Roeve (70' Siebe Wylin), Kader Yameogo, Amine Et-Taïbi (81' Jano Willems), Sem Audoor, Lynnt Audoor (60' Laurens Goemaere), Liam De Smet, Tobias Lund-Jensen, Alejandro Granados (70' Daniel Perez), Lenn De Smet, Kaye Furo (60' Benjamin Faraas). Bench: Argus Vanden Driessche, Shandre Campbell, Renzo Tytens, Jesse Bisiwu. Coach: Robin Veldman.
RFC Seraing: Lucas Margueron, Maxime Allione (61' Yannis Lawson), Ruben Droehnle, Noah Solheid, Marvin Tshibuabua (61' Saliou Faye), Matthieu Muland, Nils Schouterden, Mathieu Cachbach (82' Matteo Scarpinati), Sonny Perry (67' Ndiaye Sheikhou Omar), Pape Fall, Mohamed Camara (82' Noa Lukebakio). Bench: Loris Pirson, Sidney Obissa, Sasha Marloye, Tidiane Leye. Coach: Mbaye Leye.
Goals: 29' Furo 1-0, 75' Schouterden 1-1.
Yellow cards: 59' Schouterden, 66' Lenn De Smet, 68' Cachbach.
Referee: Bert Verbeke
Stadium: The NEST Roeselare
Spectators: 333.