Anderlecht crush Bruges after tumultuous match

GAMES Anderlecht just smashed rivals Club Bruges after an intense game. The Mauves won with 1-4 and are now ranked second. Dennis Praet was man of the match with two goals. Okaka and Suarez scored the other two.

Anderlecht had to deal with a lot of suspensions and injuries. Dendoncker took place on the midfield, Heylen replaced the suspended Kara in the defence and Gillet and Acheampong manned the back positions. And that Acheampong was the exponent of well playing Anderlecht in the first half. The Ghanese player rushed past his defender, centred and Okaka pushed the 0-1 against the net after just six minutes of play.

The Brussels' team kept putting pressure on the home side that only created one small chance in the first half with a weak effort from Simons. The visitors on the other hand had enough chances to decide the match during the first 45 minutes. Praet scored from one of these chances ten minutes before the break. He controlled the bal and his hard effort from outside the box went in the bottom left corner of the goal: 0-2. Okaka was close to scoring the 0-3 but his good shot, also from outside the box, ended on the crossbar. Meanwhile, referee Gumienny had already frustrated the purple and white team with several ridiculous yellow cards.

And that same Gumienny would play a major part in the rest of the match. Bruges, that started well on the second half, was granted a clear offside goal after 60 minutes of play. Denswil scored while he and three of his team mates were at least one meter offside. Meanwhile Okaka had been kept from scoring the 0-3. From an offside position he put pressure on Engels who headed the ball back to his keeper. The header was not powerful enough and Okaka escaped with the ball and scored. He was flagged for offside though. Doubtful decision.

Anyway, the equaliser of Bruges was the start of a major offensive. Proto kept Vormer and Izquierdo from scoring with two excellent saves. Vormer eventually succeeded on scoring the 2-2, but he was flagged for offside; incorrectly this time. Referee Gumienny had now completely lost control over the match and started swinging around with the cards. He would end up on giving 11 yellow cards in this match. 

Matias Suarez remained cool in all the commotion and on a rare counter attack he dribbled past the Brugian defence. Meunier came sliding in from behind, played the ball first, but the ball went on the penalty spot anyway. Suarez himself scored the 1-3. Bruges could not react anymore and in stoppage time a nice combination between Okaka and Praet led to the second goal of Anderlecht's play maker: 1-4!