For the last home game of the season, Club NXT U23 received title contender RWDM on a visit. The Brusselers were able to score twice before halftime through O'Brien and Hazard. Substitute Oyama scored the 0-3 ten minutes before the end of the match. Lenn De Smet brought the 1-3 final score on the scoreboard with a clever goal.
Club NXT U23's match fell almost at the same time as the first team's match against Union, so coach Hayk Milkon could not count on some of his star players. Goalkeeper Senne Lammens was allowed to start in the starting lineup after a long absence from Club NXT U23 and Jack Hendry who returned from injury also got playing minutes against RWDM. Youngsters Laurens Goemaere and Maxime Wameso, both just turned 17, got their first start. Another debutant in the starting lineup was Tobias Lund Jensen.
Leader RWDM is at the top of the standings with one point more than first pursuer SK Beveren. Encouraged by a well-filled and atmospheric visitors' box, it took control of the match immediately. Goalkeeper Lammens showed his talent and prevented an early lead by plucking a sharp cross from the right out of the air. Vorogovskiy was just unable to tap in a dangerous corner kick from offside. An attempt by Hazard was cleared off the line by Jano Willems. De Sart also failed to make it 0-1 after a poor pass from Lammens. Club NXT U23 was struggling.
RWDM put constant pressure on the home team and in the 23rd minute it was a goal for the visitors. On a corner kick, the ball was first deflected, but the ensuing cross was cleverly headed in by the free O'Brien. Hazard, who provided the assist for the first goal, doubled the score on the half-hour mark. His shot deflected off Willems and goalkeeper Lammens was floored: 0-2. This was also the halftime score.
The second half
At the start of the second half, Hendry and Servais were replaced by Jonathan Foss and Oleksandr Yakymenko. Once again it was RWDM who had the first chances. Captain Seys blocked an attempt by Binon well. Steadily the match became balanced and Club NXT U23 looked more and more for the tying goal. In the regular competition our youngsters won twice against RWDM and in the outward game of the playoffs RWDM could only score the winning goal in the 95th minute.
The very young Blauw-Zwart therefore went full steam ahead against the experienced leaders. On corner kicks, Willems unfortunately could not score and Heris also could not net the ball on the opposite side. Lammens stood guard well and picked up handsomely. Deuwel, meanwhile, replaced Wameso. Hazard took a strong shot, but Goemaere defended strongly. Afterwards he also neutralized Challouk's attempt. It became hot again in front of the Bruges goal. Especially when our Danish defender Foss made a mistake and Botello's attempt went inches wide. Lammens was then able to keep a hard shot into the short corner by Botello out of goal.
After a nice combination on the right, substitute Oyama was able to score the 0-3. Shortly after the visitors' goal, Club NXT U23 was able to score the tying goal after a nice attack. The assist was from Tobias Lund Jensen and it was Lenn De Smet who cleverly scored the 1-3. The honorary goal was on the board, but that was all Club NXT U23 could manage, although they played a creditable game against the leaders of the Challenger Pro League. Due to Beerschot's win, Blauw-Zwart dropped to fourth place in the ranking. Next Saturday our youngsters play their last match in Beveren.
Club NXT: Senne Lammens, Jack Hendry (46' Jonathan Foss), Jano Willems, Joaquin Seys, William Simba, Liam De Smet, Tobias Lund Jensen (86' Lukas Mondele), Mathis Servais (46' Oleksandr Yakymenko), Lenn De Smet, Laurens Goemaere (90' Mathis Labro), Maxime Wameso (56' Bruce Deuwel). Bench: Henri Maton. Coach: Hayk Milkon.
RWDM: Théo Defourny, Florian Le Joncour, Yan Vorogovskiy, Mickaël Biron (74' Luis Oyama), Kylian Hazard (66' Ivann Botella), Camilo Reijers de Oliveira, Jake O'Brien, Jonathan Heris, Youssef Challouk, Alexis De Sart (66' Gustavo Barreto), Zakaria el Ouahdi (84' Fabio Ferraro). Coach: Vincent Euvrard.
Goals: 23' O'Brien 0-1, 31' Hazard 0-2, 82' Oyama 0-3, 85' Lenn De Smet 1-3.
Referee: Wim Smet.
Stadium: The Nest Roeselare.
Spectators: 1017.