A trip to OHL for Club at the occasion of the Croky Cup Round of 16. Thirty minutes in, a fabulous curly courtesy of Vetlesen put the visitors in front, but the hosts drew level through Kaba in the second half. A spot kick from Tzolis decided the tie in Club's favour, however.
An Antwerp goal in the closing stages of the game was enough to halt Club's great unbeaten home run on Sunday. Perhaps some rotation was expected for the OHL tie, but coach Hayen kept changes to a minimum. In goal, van den Heuvel was allowed to take his place under the crossbar again and Siquet was trusted at right back. In midfield, Stanković returned to the starting line-up and Vetlesen was given preference over Forbs on the right flank. There was more substitution for the home team, who had no fewer than seven new names on the pitch compared to their game against KRC Genk.
It was Club that in the opening stages immediately claimed the ball and put pressure forward. After only a few minutes, this resulted in a nice combination between Vetlesen and Tzolis, with the latter rocking the ball nicely over the defense. Unfortunately, the Norwegian midfielder just couldn't get to the leather enough to threaten goalkeeper Prévot. Shortly before the quarter hour mark, the visitors cheered a first time when Tzolis came inside and curled the ball beautifully with his left past Prévot into the far corner. Club's joy was short-lived, however, as VAR detected an offside call by Siquet. After twenty minutes, a first home threat put van den Heuvel on the alert. Club's goalie intervened well upon a sharp cross, but the ball ended with Mijatović, who immediately lashed out towards goal, but fortunately Ordóñez was able to deviate the ball into a corner.
Moments later, there was another scare in the Club penalty area when Verlinden delivered a sharp cross, but this time Ordóñez was able to hinder Mijatović sufficiently so that the latter could not head in freely. On the half hour it was Kaba's turn to create danger, when he suddenly appeared alone in front of van den Heuvel after Vanaken missed. The OHL striker lobbed the shot wide of target, but was eventually flagged for offside. A fine wake-up call for Club, reacting swiftly as Siquet played the ball to Stanković, who in turn laid it aside for Vetlesen. The latter came in well and then from just outside the sixteen curled the leather beautifully into the far corner with his left. The home team's reaction was not long in coming, but both Kaba (twice) and Pletinckx (with the head) could not really worry van den Heuvel in the end.
The same 22 names made their appearance at the start of the second half and once again it was the visitors who immediately took control. Tzolis was able to push through, coming inside to then fish the far corner. Unfortunately, however, the Greek winger could not frame his attempt. Club clearly had the upper hand in the first ten minutes of the second game, but with the result still at 0-1, the equaliser was never far off. On a corner kick, the ball shot through and Dussenne was eventually able to kick towards goal from close range. Fortunately for Club, van den Heuvel had an excellent reflex to prevent the equalizer. A little after the hour, the visitors had a double chance through Tzolis and Tresoldi. First the Greek popped hard on Prévot's fists from an acute angle and in the retrieval Tresoldi could not get the ball under control to finish properly.
Midway through the second half, Mechele was unable to clear a ball properly and Onyedika also allowed himself to be put away a little too easily by Kaba in the sixteen, blasting it hard past van den Heuvel into the far top corner. After a long VAR intervention the goal was finally awarded and the score was 1-1. Unfazed, Club immediately went in search of another lead. Tzolis was able to take the ball well to the penalty spot and there Vanaken ran in well. The captain unfortunately did not get his shot under control enough to outsmart Prévot. The Bruges pressure did result in a penalty kick moments later after Dussenne's hand play on a Tzolis cross. The Greek took up responsibility, sendnig the OHL goalie the wrong way, taking Club back into the lead! The home team responded via a header from Maziz, but he could not frame his attempt. Things went up and down quickly now, as on the opposite side Stanković spooned the ball nicely in front of goal and there Sandra ran in well. However, due to contact with Traoré, the Bruges player could not finish and a few minutes later it was Mechele who was the saving grace for Club by throwing himself in front of a shot by Ikwuemesi.
There were seven minutes extra and in that time Club had an excellent chance to further the score. Vermant was able to send Tzolis deep with his head, pushing forward towards Prévot, but unfortunately the Greek winger met with Leuven goalkeeper's feet, keeping it exciting until the bitter end. In the end, the 1-2 remained on the scoreboard and so Club qualified for the quarter-finals of the Croky Cup!
Croky Cup - Round of 16
Audience: 8,000 - King Power at Den Dreef
Referee: Jasper Vergoote
Oud-Heverlee Leuven: Maxence Prévot - Takumi Ominami (86' Chukwubuikem Ikwuemesi), Ewoud Pletinckx, Noë Dussenne - Óscar Gil (59' Davis Opoku), Lukasz Lakomi, Wouter George (59' Mathieu Maertens), Youssef Maziz, Thibaud Verlinden (80' Casper Terho) - Sory Kaba, Jovan Mijatović (59' Abdoul Karim Traoré).
Bench: Tobe Leysen, Théo Radelet, Birger Verstraete, Abdoul Karim Traoré, Casper Terho, Henok Teklab, Chukwubuikem Ikwuemesi, Mathieu Maertens, Roggerio Nyakossi, Davis Opoku.
Coach: Felice Mazzù.
Club Brugge: Dani van den Heuvel - Hugo Siquet (90+8' Vince Osuji), Joel Ordóñez, Brandon Mechele, Joaquin Seys (70' Cisse Sandra) - Aleksandar Stanković, Raphael Onyedika, Hans Vanaken - Hugo Vetlesen (90+3' Bjorn Meijer), Nicolò Tresoldi (70' Romeo Vermant (90+3' Gustaf Nilsson)), Christos Tzolis.
Bench: Axl De Corte, Argus Vanden Driessche, Vince Osuji, Bjorn Meijer, Samuel Gomez Van Hoogen, Shandre Campbell, Romeo Vermant, Cisse Sandra, Carlos Forbs, Gustaf Nilsson.
Coach: Nicky Hayen.
Yellow: Onyedika
Red: none
Goal: 33' Vetlesen (0-1), 70' Sory Kaba (1-1), 83' Tzolis (1-2)