On matchday 13 of the Jupiler Pro League Club Brugge travelled to Den Dreef to take on OH Leuven. There were barely any chances of note in the first half that ended 0-0, but after the break a deflected effort from Skov Olsen went in. OH Leuven pressed for an equaliser, but failed to beat Mignolet.
Blauw-Zwart completed a 6-1 win against Belisia Bilzen on Wednesday in the Croky Cup, which had given coach Hayen the chance to give rest to a couple of players. Compared to the win over Anderlecht, made one change to his starting line-up: Sabbe replaced Seys as right full-back. Vermant played as centre-forward again after his great performance last Sunday against Anderlecht, with Skov Olsen and Tzolis on the wing. The most notable absentee for the hosts was Ricca. The former Club player was sidelined with an injury.
We can be brief about the beginning of the match: nothing really happened in the first ten minutes of the game. A tame shot from Vermant didn't trouble OHL goalie Leysen, but it did spark some offensive aspirations from Club. De Cuyper latched on to a through ball from Jashari and flicked in a dangerous looking cross, that took a deflection and had to be swept away by Leysen into a corner. The home side responsed at the twenty-minute mark when Banzuzi linked up with Akimoto before bursting into the penalty area and releasing a goal-bound strike. Luckily Mechele blocked the shot with a last-ditch tackle.
Club couldn't show much for themselves in that first half an hour. A header from Vanaken was not firm enough, but when Akimoto didn't clear Jashari's long ball well enough, the ball fell into the feet of Vermant. The youngster tried to curl it into the far corner from just outside of the box, but Leysen did well to parry it away. That was it for the first half, as there was mostly midfield football in the closing ten minutes, without real chances.
No changes at the break for either side. Club claimed most of the possession at the start of the second half, but couldn't create anything against a solid defensively organized OHL. The hosts quickly restored the balance and forced Mignolet into making a save when Ikwuemesi was picked out on a corner kick.
Without having created a clear-cut chance - Ordóñez had fired high over the crossbar - Club managed to break the deadlock on 58 minutes. Tzolis' low cross found Vanaken who teed up Skov Olsen and the Dane saw his curling effort take a deflection on Ominami before it flew in against the back of the net. No chance for Leysen who had gone the other way. Leuven immediately tried to equalise when Ikwuemesi headed Verstraete's free-kick back to Balikwisha, but the winger mistimed his shot completely.
OH Leuven continued to press for the equaliser and were close after seventy minutes when Kuruçay headed the ball towards Schrijvers, but he was too much out of balance to get a good touch on the ball. Shortly after coach Hayen decided to intervene by bringing on Jutglà and Talbi for Vermant and Skov Olsen, but it was OH Leuven that came close to a goal just a few minutes later, when Kuruçay slammed his header against the crossbar. However, he was later adjusted to be in an offside position. The hosts kept the pressure high and Meijer headed away Banzuzi's strike into a corner kick.
With the match drawing to the end, Club came close to putting the game to bed. First Ikwuemesi cleared Vanaken's header from the line, a few moments later Leysen needed a good reflex save to keep out Jutglà's low strike from going in. But it was Leuven who had the last say with a massive chance in the 90th minute. A well-struck effort from Banzuzi looked to be going in at the far post, but Mignolet tipped it away and was quick to react when Biron tried to pounce home on the rebound. A brilliant double save from Big Si!
There were five minutes of extra time, but only Club managed to carve out a good chance when Talbi's low strike was kept out by Leysen. And so Club goes home with all three points in the bag and can now look ahead to Wednesday's European fixture against Aston Villa.
Jupiler Pro League – Matchday 13
Attendance: 10.020– King Power at Den Dreef Stadion
Referee: Simon Bourdeaud’hui
OH Leuven: Tobe Leysen – Manuel Osifo (86’ Thibault Vlietinck), Hasan Kuruçay, Takuma Ominami (86’ Óscar Gil), Takahiro Akimoto – William Balikwisha (72’ Youssef Maziz), Birger Verstraete, Ezechiel Banzuzi, Siebe Schrijvers (72’ Mickaël Biron) – Konan N’Dri (59’ Stefan Mitrović), Chukwubuikem Ikwuemesi.
Bench: Théo Radelet, Owen Jochmans, Christ Souanga, Thibault Vlietinck, Óscar Gil, Wouter George, Stefan Mitrović, Mickaël Biron, Hamza Mendyl, Youssef Maziz.
Coach: Óscar García.
Club Brugge: Simon Mignolet – Kyriani Sabbe, Brandon Mechele, Joel Ordóñez, Maxim De Cuyper – Raphael Onyedika, Ardon Jashari (90+5’ Casper Nielsen), Hans Vanaken – Andreas Skov Olsen (74’ Chemsdine Talbi), Romeo Vermant (74’ Ferran Jutglà), Christos Tzolis (79’ Bjorn Meijer).
Bench: Nordin Jackers, Dani van den Heuvel, Zaid Romero, Jorne Spileers, Hugo Siquet, Bjorn Meijer, Casper Nielsen, Chemsdine Talbi, Michał Skóraś, Ferran Jutglà.
Coach: Nicky Hayen.
Yellow cards: Balikwisha, Kuruçay, Jashari, Mignolet
Red cards: none
Goals: 58’ Skov Olsen (0-1)