Anderlecht, Club Brugge and Gent all won their matches this weekend; in so doing, they widened the gap at the top and will take that advantage – or part of it – into the Playoffs 1.
Anderlecht took their time to get going but eventually ran out easy winners 4-0 against Bob Peeters’ Cercle Brugge. Anderlecht’s goals came Dieumerci Mbokani (two), Guillaume Gillet and Patou Kabangu – his first for the club. Cercle remain fourth though, as fifth-placed Standard Liege (at Club Brugge) and sixth-place Racing Genk, also lost.
Club Brugge just edged it 1-0 on their newly-laid pitch. They just about deserved the win but it was somewhat controversial, as keeper Bojan Jorgacevic admitted he handled the ball outside the area to stop Standard scoring. Gent went to KV Mechelen and came away with a solid 2-0 win. Gent seem happier when Berndt Thijs, Tim Smolders and Jesper Jorgensen are controlling midfield.
The game of the night was at Kortrijk where they just edged a five-goal thriller against reigning champions Genk. Kortrijk went two goals up only for Genk to come back with two from Jelle Vossen. The equaliser was in extra time but Kortrijk immediately went down the pitch and grabbed the winner – a super goal from young Becht Dejaegere.
New coach Enzo Scifo had an immediate effect as his Mons side won for the first time in 2012, two more goals for leading scorer Jeremy Perbet. The only two teams to climb the table were Lokeren, who scored four against Westerlo – one for Ivory Coast keeper Copa Boubacar, and Sint Truiden who beat Zulte Waregem to go above Westerlo.
Results
KV Mechelen 0 Gent 2; Mons 4 Beerschot 2; Kortrijk 3 Genk 2; Lokeren 4 Westerlo 0; Leuven 0 Lierse 0; Sint Truiden 1 Zulte Waregem 0; Club Brugge 1 Standard Liege 0; Anderlecht 4 Cercle Brugge 0.