0 - 2 defeat at home against Zulte-Waregem.

Sat 10 Aug 2019, 20:30

KRC Genk 0

2 Zulte Waregem

“We know what went wrong in Mechelen and we corrected it,” coach Mazzu said before the game. “You can talk about it for hours but the most important is the response on the pitch. We will have to prevent Zulte-Waregem from gaining confidence and keep the game in our own hands. With the support from our fans this will work out. It's important for a team to feel supported and that is always the case here."

Mazzu also indicated that he might make some changes in his starting line up. But in the end there were only two. Lucumi and Hagi came on to replace Cuesta and Nygren.

So far Zulte-Waregem coach Francky Dury could not grab any points with his team. From KRC Genk player made his comeback, Overlin as unavailable. Bossut, Bjordal and Bjürki were in the starting line up.

Bjordal scores for the visitors.

The home team had a decent start of the game. With a bit of luck Samatta grabbed the bal and headed for the goal. Goalkeeper Bossut managed to prevent his team from going down with a leg sweep. On the opposite side Larin appeared in the back of Dewaest, played past Coucke but then was denied the opening goal by the Genk captain who returned in the nick of time.

Seconds later, the visitors opened the score. Bürki provided the cross from the left, Bjordal tipped the ball in the far corner. Speaking of a cold shower for the hosts. Shortly after, Zarandia, formerly in the bluewhite Genk colors, took an attempt with his right but saw his shot stopped by Coucke.

With twenty minutes gone Bjordal committed a foul on Uronen. Hagi aimed his freekick straight at goal but Bossut fisted it out of harm's way. With five minutes left in the first half Paintsil put the ball through to Hagi. Ianis made the cross but Bossut managed to clear it. Two minutes later the visitors almost doubled the score. Seck and Berahino both had an attempt on goal from close range after a corner but Coucke, Ito and the post denied them. Seconds later, Maehle managed to put in a cross. Hagi couldn't climb high enough to put his head to it. In the aftermath Berge put a ball through to Maehle but Bossut beat him to it. Half time score was 0 - 1.

Berahino scores 0 – 2 after a deflection.

It wasn't until fifteen minutes into the second half that we saw the first opportunity. Samatta put in a cross to the far post. Ito immediately tried a shot. The ball deflected of Bossut's body, hit Bryan Heynen straight in the face and went over the crossbar. On the opposite side Berahino tried his luck from a second ball but Coucke produced an excellent reflex save.

After neither Heynen nor Samatta managed to reach a cross from Uronen coach Mazzu brought on Odey for Hagi. Minutes after he came on, Odey managed to put in a cross. Samatta could only pull the ball back to Berge whose shot went hight over the cross bar.With little more than ten minutes on the clock Berahino doubled the tally for his team. His shot from the edge of the area deflected of Dewaest's foot and landed in the upper angle, out of reach for Coucke.

With Benson instead of Paintsil coach Mazzu tried to turn things around. That didn't work out. Our boys broke their teeth on the ridgid Zulte-Waregem defense. The second home game of the season ended in a 0 - 2 defeat.

KRC Genk line up : Coucke, Uronen, Lucumi, Dewaest, Maehle, Berge (89’ Piotrowski), Heynen, Hagi (68’ Odey), Paintsil (81’ Benson), Ito and Samatta

Zulte-Waregem line up : Bossut, De fauw, Zarandia, Larin, Govea, Bjordal, Seck, Bürki, Humphreys, Berahino and Deschacht.

Scoresheet :

06’ : 0 – 1 : Bjordal
79’ : 0 – 2 : Berahino

Yellow cards : 57’ Bjordal, 66’ Bürki, 94’ Heynen

Red cards :

Referee : Lothar D’Hondt

Attendance : 17.820