KV MECHELEN - BEERSCHOT 3 - 2
Beerschot are still waiting for their first away win of the season. Our visit to the "Achter de Kazerne" stadium ended in tears after an awful first half performance in which our Mannekes were tactically outmastered, overpowered in every way and conceded three goals. Painful it was to see how we couldn't cope with the tempo of the hometeam, lacked grit and confidence. On top of that the body language of some of our players said it all. After the break Beerschot regrouped, scored twice but the overall performance was not enough to claim a point. With games running out our position in the table looks even more and more precarious.
The game was already over after half an hour. Storm opened the score when he was sent through a hesitant Beerschot defense. Eight minutes later our back five looked at each other instead of blocking off a Shved cross and/or the header from Cuypers. And on the half hour Storm had all the space and time of the world to curl in KV Mechelen's third from the edge of the box. Three-nil. A minute before that coach Lucho Torrente had changed his too adventurous - and failing - attacking tactical plan.
Beerschot showed more power, ambition and goodwill after the break, won six corners but the shots from Holzhauser, Rigo and Shankland were off target. KV Mechelen had Storm sent off for a high tackle on Sanusi's shin and then decided to consolidate their three goal margin. Avenatti immediately scored with a shot that hit the target after the ball rebounded back from the post and Coucke's back. Noubissi and Mukuna were sent on but that extra offensive impulse only led to a second Beerschot goal in added time. Too little too late...
ATTENDANCE: 8.137
REFEREE: Boucaut
GOALS: 11' Storm 1-0, 18' Cuypers 2-0, 29' Storm 3-0, 62' Coucke 3-1 (owngoal), 90+3' Sanusi 3-2
KV MECHELEN: Coucke, Bijker (86' Van Drongelen), Walsh, Vanlerberghe, Peyre, Shved (80' Van Hoorenbeeck), Mrabti (86' Van Hecke), Souza, Schoofs, Cuypers (82' Youan), Storm
BEERSCHOT: Biebauw, Halaimia, Radic, Konstantopoulos (28' Rigo), De Smet, Van den Bergh, Sanusi, Holzhauser (64' Noubissi), Shankland, Avenatti (69' Mukuna), Suzuki (28' Sebaoui)
YELLOW CARDS: Holzhauser, Avenatti, Radic
RED CARDS: 60' Storm
By Danny Geerts
Photo: Jan Mees