Antwerp consolidated its third place by taking the best of OHL on Saturday evening on behalf of the 33rd and penultimate day of the classic phase of the championship. In difficulty for part of the match, the Antwerpers won 0-1 thanks to their defender Abdoulaye Seck shortly before half-time. With this precious success, the Great Old has 62 points and temporarily has a four-point lead over Ghent and Anderlecht. For its part, Louvain is in eleventh position with 41 units.
Oud-Heverlee Louvain put his foot on the ball from the start of the game and showed his advantage for more than half an hour.
After fifteen minutes of play, Xavier Mercier tried his luck directly on an off-center free kick, but Jean Butez was attentive and repelled the vicious strike from the French playmaker from Louvain.
Eleven minutes later, the same Mercier, from a corner, found the head of his defender Cenk Ozkacar whose header hit the post.
Just before the half-hour, Mercier was again involved in attacking action by deflecting a ball for Casper De Norre, but the winger placed wide wide of the Antwerp goal.
In the 35th minute of play it was Mathieu Maertens’ turn to stand out by starting alone on goal. Unfortunately for him, he missed his face-to-face with Butez who kept his clean sheet.
As often in these cases, the lack of efficiency paid cash for OHL. Against the run of play, Abdoulaye Seck allowed Antwerp to pass in front of this meeting after a corner. The defender was quicker than the Louvanists to react on the second ball, and placed the leather with the toe out of reach of Runar Runarsson (40th, 0-1)
After the break, the number 1 came back on the field with better dispositions during the first five minutes, before leaving the initiative again to the Louvanists and offering an unconvincing performance in the game.
Less impactful in this second act, Xavier Mercier’s teammates created far fewer opportunities and struggled to be dangerous.
Opposite, Antwerp was content to defend and went out on rare occasions, such as on a free kick kicked by Benson in the 66th minute or on a long shot from Nainggolan just before the end of extra time (89th).