Our Groen-Zwart welcomed KAA Gent for the 23rd matchday of this Jupiler Pro League season. The Association was able to do a good job with a view towards a place in the top eight, while the Buffalos wanted to strengthen their hold on fourth place. Miron Muslic chose exactly the same eleven that had beaten Oostende last week. Hotic was honored at the start of the match on the occasion of his 100th match as a Cercle Brugge player.
Cercle claim a big last-minute win against KAA Gent, 3-2!
The first half started sloppily. Ngadeu spooned the ball right into the feet of Denkey, but he couldn't pick out the onrushing Ueda. After a short drop in the action, Gent tried a few times to attack via the long ball, although that did not cause any danger. The best chances of the first half were saved for the end: an interception by Popovic saw the ball brought to Vanhoutte after a few intermediate passes, and he reached the byline and cut the ball back towards goal, but a crowded penalty area prevented the ball from finding the net. Only a promising second half would really add color to this match.
And that's just what happened as Ueda was the first to cause danger. The Japanese attacker picked off a back pass from Ngadeu and effortlessly turned Nardi, but he was unable to put enough power behind his shot. Five minutes later, our top scorer succeeded: Vanhoutte, who played a very strong match in both defense and attack, put the ball onto Ueda's head to make it 1-0. It wouldn't be one without two, Denkey decided less than a minute later. It was a similar move to the previous one, but now on the other side and via a low cross from Somers. Denkey put the ball into the corner in one move to double the lead.
The Groen-Zwart slowed down a bit and paid for it less than ten minutes later: Cuypers hit a scorching shot, and the ball initially came off the crossbar after Warleson's save. De Sart was the first to the ball and was able to head in an opening goal. This gave way to a shaky end for the home team. Fifteen minutes from time Somers looked to have found Denkey for another goal, but the Togolese could not finish this time. It was thus all hands on deck for the Buffalos, and it paid off as substitute Lemajic headed a Fofana cross past Warleson to make it 2-2. That seemed set to be the final score, but that was without counting on Daland. The Norwegian intercepted Nardi's throw, and then found the corner from 25 meters to seal a 3-2 win. Talk about a finish! Next Saturday, our Groen-Zwart will host Standard Liège.
