A timely header by Hans Vanaken squared things with KRC Genk. Club had been the better team in the second half, but the winning goal did not follow.
“Not the best of results, but an honest one nonetheless. They were better in the first half, our pressing was not good enough, they had no trouble playing their way out of our hold. The second half was ours. When you look at it like that, it's fair to say that 1-1 is a correct score. When you can keep pushing like that in the second half, you feel like you can still claim the win. But when you take into account the entire game, it's a fair result. I enjoyed this game. When there's two teams willing to play, it leaves space to play in. Both teams have players capable of playing in between the lines. It was a fine game with two teams willing to play ball.”
The equaliser finally came through a great header by our skipper. “Making my way inside the box is one of my strongsuits. It wasn't the easiest of balls to head in. It can be fun, just getting your head to a ball and hoping it goes in. A vital goal at that point. It's a pity that we couldn't add that second, after putting so much pressure and being in control.”
Coach Ronny Deila tweaked his team at half time. “The coach asked us to apply higher pressure, to show more intensity and to keep believing. Which we clearly did in the second half. When you keep pressuring Genk, they also have to go for the long ball and that's not the type of play they cherish. You just keep putting pressure on their half. When you can intercept there, it's not a long way towards goal. We had some chances with that attitude by the end, such as that ball Thiago could not tap in by the very end. We definitely would have won had we played like that in the first half.” (KN)