Hope, and gradually despair, after KVO-Club (3-0)
KVO via penalty kick to 1-0
Both teams started the match in the Diaz Arena very poorly. Club took the initiative, but Ostend tried to prevent the national champion from playing football with the well-known high pressure. That worked quite easily. Club was way too sloppy and barely managed to get a chance. KVO was waiting for the counter-attack and in the end of the first half a penalty was awarded after hands from Mechele. A long VAR check later, Ambrose was allowed to stand behind the ball and the attacker from Guadeloupe floored Mignolet in two times, 1-0.
From sterile pressure to an exit
After the break, the possession of the ball came even more to the visitors. However, the pressure remained sterile and Ostend was able to escape again just before the hour mark. McGeehan scored with a low shot from just outside the box, 2-0. The home team crept even more into the hedgehog position and escaped ten minutes before the end. Vanaken seemed to score the tying goal, but his goal was rejected – after a VAR intervention – for Meijer’s previous offside. Five minutes into injury time, substitute Atanga made Club’s downfall even greater with a low goal, 3-0.
It is the first competition victory for KVO since November 6. They have only collected three points in the past ten games. Ostend is currently in sixteenth place next to Zulte Waregem, with 23 points. Club Brugge (46 pts) remains fourth, but can see chasers Gent, Westerlo and Standard come close to one point this weekend.