After the defeat in FC Liege, Club NXT U23 was able to take revenge against the pledges of Standard. In an unfortunate first half, the people from Liège took the lead, but during the second half Blauw Zwart rectified the lopsided situation and crushed the opponent with goals by Barberá, Salah (twice) and Ordoñez. Club NXT U23 thus plunged back into the top five.
For the important game against Standard's pledges, coach Nicky Hayen could count on extra reinforcements from the first team. Ordoñez started in defense at the expense of Willems. Shinton, Barberá, Homma and Vermant also started in the starting line-up. Both teams were clearly eager to play a nice game of soccer. SL16 FC played freely and were the equal of Club NXT U23 at the start of the match.
The first good chance was for our youngsters though. Liam De Smet combined with captain Vermant who sent the ball towards Barberá, but the Spaniard just couldn't reach it. Also when De Roeve sent one of his clever crosses from the flank towards goal, Barberá could not head in. SL16 FC just then took its first big chance just wide of the left post.
On free kick from SL16 FC, the leather came to Benjdida who went into duel with Shinton. Our goalkeeper worked the ball into a corner kick. This was taken short and the free Dierckx was able to head in. 0-1, a cold shower for Club NXT U23. But our youngsters were not upset. Immediately they went on the attack in search of the equalizer. De Smet intercepted the ball and launched a counter. Barberá was able to reach Salah, but goalkeeper Poitoux was able to avoid the 1-1 with a fine reflex.
At the other end, goalkeeper Shinton had to prevent the 0-2 twice, on shots by Benjdida and Dodeigne. De Roeve painted some fine crosses towards goal, but Vermant's attempts were either boxed away by the Liege goalkeeper or his ball went over the goal. The very active Salah took out some opponents and shot at goal himself, but the ball unfortunately deflected off the crossbar. Things were not going well for our youngsters. Not even when Vermant headed over a perfect De Roeve cross just before halftime. So we rested with a surprising score of 0-1 for the visitors.
