Okereke gives Club 1-0 win against STVV

Club Brugge secured a narrow 1-0 win against Sint-Truiden on their own field. Substitute David Okereke scored the only goal of the match. Thanks to this win, Blauw-Zwart climbs (for the time being) back to first place in the Jupiler Pro League.

With an eye on next Tuesday's match against Lazio Roma, Philippe Clement rested several star players. For example, Clinton Mata, among others, started on the bench. His place at the back was taken by Ignace Van der Brempt. On the left flank, Eduard Sobol replaced Ricca. Hans Vanaken would normally have been rested, but since Ruud Vormer had to withdraw in extremis with abdominal problems, the Golden Shoe kicked off.

At STVV, coach Muscat had just been fired, leaving interim coach Stef Van Winckel to do the honors. Blauw-Zwart started eagerly, but the visitors folded back en masse, causing Club to hit a wall. The first threat came from Sobol, but after a fine dribble the Ukrainian was unable to outsmart goalkeeper Schmidt. Moments later, Lang just couldn't reach a teammate, while Vanaken also couldn't reach a lay-back from Rits. At the other end, Mignolet had to save a shot towards the near corner from Nazon.

The Bruges players constantly camped in STVV's half, but played too slowly and did not manage to outplay the Canaries. Distance shots from Dennis and Sobol yielded nothing, while an effort from Rits lacked power to embarrass goalkeeper Schmidt. In the end, it was the visitors who came closest to a goal: a Suzuki shot went over, while Mignolet had to pull out all the stops to clear a Pol Garcia free kick from his goal area.

At the start of the second half, the first chance was for Noa Lang, but the Dutchman's shot went wide. Moments later, Dennis was unable to capitalize on a De Ketelaere cross. That was the Nigerian's last chance, who was replaced by his compatriot Okereke. That turned out to be a golden substitution, because a few minutes later Lang cleverly played Okereke free and he slid the 1-0 into the goal.

The visitors now had to come out of their hedgehog position, giving Club more space. For example, De Ketelaere started a great dribble from the center line, but he just couldn't decide. Shortly after, the Bridge goalkeepers came close to the 2-0 on three occasions: Vanaken first pounced on goalkeeper Schmidt and then aimed the leather just wide, while an attempt by Rits was also parried by Schmidt.

In the closing stages, Blauw-Zwart continued to control the match. Sint-Truiden couldn't make a fist anymore and got no further than a header by Suzuki, which was easily caught by Mignolet. The 1-0 remained on the board, despite chances for Okereke and Lang, who both failed to frame their attempts. Thanks to this victory, Club Brugge climbs back to the lead (for now).

Jupiler Pro League - Playday 15
Spectators: none - Jan Breydelstadion
Referee: Bert Put
Club Brugge: Simon Mignolet - Ignace Van der Brempt (80' Clinton Mata), Odilon Kossounou, Brandon Mechele, Eduard Sobol - Mats Rits, Éder Balanta, Hans Vanaken (70' Siebe Schrijvers) - Emmanuel Dennis (54' David Okereke), Charles De Ketelaere, Noa Lang. Bench: Ethan Horvath, Michael Krmenčík, Federico Ricca and Youssouph Badji. Coach: Philippe Clement.
STVV: Daniel Schmidt - Wolke Janssens (70' Keito Nakamura), Jonathan Buatu, Maximiliano Caufriez, Pol Garcia, Liberato Cacace - Mory Konaté (70' Chris Durkin), Samuel Asamoah (76' Oleksandr Filippov), Steve De Ridder - Duckens Nazon, Yuma Suzuki. Coach: Stef Van Winckel.
Yellow cards: Konaté.
Red cards: none
Goal: 57' Okereke (1-0).

Text: Steven Floin