Two horse race: Takeaways from matchday one in the Belgian Pro League title play-offs | OneFootball

The first matchday of the Belgian Pro League play-offs is now in the books. At the top, it looks like it really will be a two-horse race for the title between Union St Gilloise and Club Brugge. Both sides remained on track with opening day wins, while the battle for the remaining play-off tickets looks set for an equally exciting run in.

Union remain on top

Union were first to take the stage when they welcomed Sint Truiden to Brussels on Saturday. It was an entertaining game between the defending champions and this season’s surprise package in the Belgian Pro League. Union registered 16 shots on their opponents’ goal, yet only one of these had a real impact. Anouar Ait El Hadj was the provider for Guilherme Smith to open the scoring. Last season, Promise David joined Union from the Estonian top flight and made a huge impact during the play-offs. Smith has taken that same route and could be set to play a role in Union’s bid for a second successive title.

Club Brugge see off Anderlecht

Club Brugge kept themselves in touching distance of Union with a 4-2 victory over Anderlecht on Monday. The home side took a commanding 3-0 lead by half-time and will wonder how the score line ended up looking closer than it should have. Club could have been five or six up by the break, such was their dominance. Kyriani Sabbe opened the scoring with a fine strike, while Aleksandar Stankovic and the excellent Christos Tzolis made it 3-0. Thorgan Hazard had made it 3-1 just before the hour mark, and when Mihajlo Cvetkovic punished Club on the break, it looked like the home side were about to make it a nervy finish for their supporters. However, with Anderlecht pushing, Tzolis then provided Romeo Vermant with the opportunity to kill the game late on, which he duly took.

KV Mechelen deny Gent

KV Mechelen left it late to deny Gent an opening day win in the play-offs. Max Dean had given the Buffaloes an early lead and the side looked set to close the gap to Sint Truiden to just three points. However, Bill Antonio came off the bench to level for the away side. The Zimbabwean winger scored his first goal of the season to ensure that KV Mechelen, Gent and Anderlecht all remain locked together in the bottom six.

So far this weekend, the biggest losers were Anderlecht. They now have a seven point gap to Sint Truiden in third and will likely need to win the cup in order to gain a higher European ticket than the Conference League. Sint Truiden will face Club Brugge next weekend, another tough fixture to open the play-offs. However, the draw between Gent and KV Mechelen really did help them by keeping the gap to five points. That means, with the title chasers out of the way, the side will hope to begin to take points off of the bottom three to ensure they finish where they started.

Next up in the Belgian Pro League, while Club will travel to Sint Truiden, Anderlecht will welcome Gent, and Union will travel to KV Mechelen.

GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson