Club Brugge recorded a hard-fought 1-2 victory away at KV Mechelen. On the stroke of halftime, Blue and Black took the lead through a spot kick by De Cuyper. Well into injury time, KV Mechelen reached out for that one point through Raman, but Club finally drew the longest straw thanks to a header by Joel Ordóñez.
Compared to the team that had beaten Patro Eisden in the Cup, Nicky Hayen made six changes to his Starting XI, allowing Mignolet, Seys, Spileers, Jashari, Vetlesen and Skov Olsen another start at the expense of Jackers, Sabbe, Romero, Onyedika, Nielsen and Tzolis. Despite the many substitutions, Club simply continued on their momentum from the past few weeks, resulting in a first clear chance in the opening minute: Vetlesen with the perfect cross in front of goal, but to everyone's surprise Talbi aimed just wide at the far post. Immediately afterwards Club tried its luck on a corner kick with a studied number, but Jashari's shot was blocked.
Even after that scorching start Club remained the most threatening team: a shot by Skov Olsen went over, an attempt by Talbi got blocked and a free kick by De Cuyper went one meter wide. The only thing KV Mechelen could do in return was a shot by Lauberbach chipping off Spileers. As time went on, the game got watered down - literally and figuratively - but on the stroke of half-time the 0-1 fell: De Cuyper pushed through on the left wing and was brought down inside the box. Lining up to take the spot kick himself, he punished the hosts for that one error with half time in clear view.
After the break, the home team got off to the best start. Ten minutes in, Mechelen hoped for a penalty, after a cross from the right touched Spileers' hand. VAR called referee Van Driessche to look at the footage, but the ref allowed the play to continue. Moments later, Mechele had to head away a dangerous cross, while Jashari blocked a shot by Schoofs and Mechele did the same on an attempt by Pflücke.
Club continued to play a well-organized game, and had an excellent chance to double the lead with fifteen minutes on the clock. Seys surging forward from his own half towards the opponent's box and teeing up Tzolis, just on, but the Greek was unable to latch on well and fired over. KV Mechelen stepped up the pressure in the closing stages and also came close to the equalizer with ten minutes to go. Mignolet parried a Lauberbach shot, and then also had a fine reaction in store to keep Raman from tapping it in in the rebound. The Limburg goalie also saved Schoofs' shot.
Club was seeing stars, and the gods of football still had something great in store for those attending the game. Jutglà suddenly found himself alone through, but was put to a halt by the Mechelen defense. At the other end, Van Driessche now pointed to the spot himself after an alleged foul by Ordóñez on Lauberbach. However, the footage showed that there was nothing wrong, so no penalty for the home team. In minute 95, however, it still became 1-1 when Raman kicked it in from close range. Club seemed to lose out on two valuable points, but then there was Joel Ordóñez. The defender headed in a free kick from De Cuyper to give Club the three points in the 101st minute.
Jupiler Pro League - Match Day 17
Audience: 16,248 - AFAS Stadium
Referee: Mr. Bram Van Driessche
KV Mechelen: Ortwin De Wolf - Toon Raemaekers (88' Julien Ngoy), Bas Van den Eynden, Ahmed Touba - Patrick Pflücke (78' Rafik Belghali), Aziz Ouattara (67' Benito Raman), Rob Schoofs, José Marsà - Geoffrey Hairemans (78' Bilal Bafdili), Lion Lauberbach, Kerim Mrabti. Coach: Besnik Hasi
Club Brugge: Simon Mignolet - Joaquin Seys, Jorne Spileers, Brandon Mechele, Maxim De Cuyper - Hugo Vetlesen (67' Raphael Onyedika), Ardon Jashari (87' Casper Nielsen), Hans Vanaken - Andreas Skov Olsen (78' Joel Ordóñez), Romeo Vermant (78' Ferran Jutglà), Chemsdine Talbi (67' Christos Tzolis). Bench: Nordin Jackers, Zaid Romero, Kyriani Sabbe and Gustaf Nilsson. Coach: Nicky Hayen.
Yellow cards: Marsà.
Red cards: none
Goals: 45+2' De Cuyper (penalty, 0-1), 90+5' Raman (1-1), 90+11' Ordóñez (1-2).