Anderlecht turn the tide in good second half

Anderlecht kept the title race interesting yesterday by beating Standard. The Mauves played a terrible first half and were lucky with a 0-1 score at half time. The second half was a lot better, resulting in two goals.


Anderlecht started with the same eleven players as usual, though Standard very rapidly took control over the match. Especially on corner kicks and free kicks, the home defence seemed vulnerable. After a few good safes from Proto, Mbemba eventually defeated his own goalkeeper after a scrimmage in the box: 0-1. Standard kept looking for another goal, but was stopped by the crossbar. Batshuayi also missed on an excellent centre.

The break had done Anderlecht well. The team brought refreshing football in the second half, with the same players. Standard had more and more trouble reaching Silvio Proto's goal. Under a crushing pressure, Mbemba erased his earlier mistake: with a hard header he defeated goalkeeper Kawashima. Anderlecht wanted more though and kept creating chances via Mitrovic and Cyriac. Twelve minutes before the end, the visiting defence was able to stop a volley from Cyriac, but Mitrovic collected the ball, turned and scored: 2-1. That same Mitrovic missed a serious chance later on and that way the scoreline remained unchanged.