Club Brugge easily qualified for the 1/8th finals of the Croky Cup after a big 6-1 victory against Eendracht Aalst Lede. Blauw-Zwart was soon on top thanks to Mechele, Campbell and an own goal. After the break, Diakhon and twice Sandra took care of the 6-1 final score.
Nicky Hayen shook up the team that won Sunday at Antwerp. Mechele and Vanaken were the only ones left in the starting lineup. Mechele was joined at the back by Siquet, Spileers, Romero and goalkeeper Dani van den Heuvel, who made his official debut for Blauw-Zwart's A-team. In midfield, Sandra and Vetlesen joined captain Vanaken, while up front Diakhon and Campbell played in support of deep striker Furo.
Eendracht Aalst Lede is in shared first place in the Third Division A and was quietly hoping for a stunt. Those hopes were dashed right away, as the Bridge Kings pushed the gas pedal firmly from the opening minute. Diakhon was able to score after just one minute, but his goal was disallowed for offside. Immediately after, Furo was inches short of pushing in a cross from Siquet. Moments later it worked: a shot by Vetlesen allowed Mechele to kick in the 1-0 from close range. And before the quarter hour mark, a second goal followed: after an action by Furo, Shandre Campbell scored the 2-0.
Club was soon on a roll, while the visitors had to pull out all the stops to stop the Bruges attacks: goalkeeper Cooman made a fine save on a shot by Sandra, attempts by Romero, Campbell and Furo went wide or over and a goal by Furo was disallowed for offside. Moments later, Furo was quick off the visiting defense, but his shot hit the post via the goalkeeper. The 3-0 finally fell shortly before halftime: after a cross from Diakhon, Lars Wantens deviated the ball into his own goal.
After the break, Vince Osuji and Alejandro Granados made their debut for the A-team. Mechele and Vanaken remained in the locker room. Osuji started with a slip, however, because after the Nigerian lost the ball, Joran Triest was able to go ahead alone and kick in the 3-1. A few minutes later, Club was able to put things in order: Diakhon cut inside and curled the leather into goal via Bauwens' head.
Bruges dropped the tempo, but did go in search of a fifth goal. An attempt by Vetlesen hit the post and Nilsson's rebound went wide. It was finally Cisse Sandra who pulled the trigger. His hard shot deflected slightly and whizzed past goalkeeper Cooman. The visitors were counted out, but still managed two pinpricks: a deviated shot by Van den Eeckhout went wide and a header by Favoreel flew over goal.
Blauw-Zwart kept pushing and that resulted in a few more chances: a shot by Nilsson hit the outside of the post, while Tresoldi was only just stopped after a long effort. The final chord was for Cisse Sandra: after a nice through pass from Vetlesen, the midfielder slotted the 6-1 into the goal. Club Brugge thus easily qualified for the 1/8th finals of the Belgian Cup.
Croky Cup - 1/16th final
Spectators: 12.000 - Jan Breydelstadion
Referee: Arne De Beuckelaer
Club Brugge: Dani van den Heuvel - Hugo Siquet, Jorne Spileers, Brandon Mechele (46' Vince Osuji), Zaid Romero - Cisse Sandra, Hans Vanaken (46' Alejandro Granados), Hugo Vetlesen, - Shandre Campbell (63' Nicolò Tresoldi), Kaye Furo (63' Gustaf Nilsson), Mamadou Diakhon (72' Samuel Gomez Van Hoogen). Bank: Axl De Corte, Argus Vanden Driessche, Carlos Forbs, Lynnt Audoor and Joaquin Seys. Coach: Nicky Hayen.
EendrachtAalst Lede: Ebbe Cooman - Falko Geenens, Calvin Dekuyper, Ilian Favoreel, Lars Wantens - Simon Lanckman (46' Jari Bauwens, 85' Arthur Rasschaert), Nicolas Van Peteghem (67' Jarne Rosschaert), Mathis Remacle, Emmanuel Nyarko (46' Tim Van den Eeckhout) - Robby Ndefe (73' Jelle Hornick), Joran Triest. Coach: Sandy Casieris.
Yellow cards: none
Red cards: none
Goals: 8' Mechele (1-0), 14' Campbell (2-0), 38' Wantens (owngoal, 3-0), 52' Triest (3-1), 57' Diakhon (4-1), 70' Sandra (5-1), 90' Sandra (6-1).