Lowzer's Low Country Revue: Club Brugge vs. KV Mechelen, 1 August 2015 - Gameweek 2 in the Jupiler Pro League 2015/16

Club Brugge have not had a great start to this season, but today managed to exorcise some early season demons as they dominated Mechelen, beating them 3-0.

The boys from Bruges in blue and black will probably be kicking themselves they didn’t score a couple more goals. But, with the second-leg of the Champions League qualifier against Panathinaïkos coming up on Wednesday, this was an important victory.

The first real chance of the game fell Club Brugge’s way. Four minutes in, Obbi Oularé’s head was met by De Bock’s cross, but he headed wide. Cissé – Mechelen’s only standout player in the game – then came close in the sixth minute of play forcing a smart save from Bruzzese. Mechelen looked like they came with the intention of being very physical – two of their players received yellow cards in the first 8 minutes of play for some vicious challenges. You can also see from the table below that Mechelen committed many more fouls than did Club Brugge.

Club Brugge’s front-three of Tuur Dierckx, Boli Bolingoli and Obbi Oularé entertained the home crowd with their energetic attacking football. Each individual in the trio offered something different: Dierckx’s trickery, Oularé’s physicality and aerial threat and Bolingoli’s ability to find space, which when combined certainly seems like a front-line to keep an eye on this season.

Dion Cools, who impressed going forward, on 43 minutes hit a good strike down low forcing a save from Mechelen’s GK Jean-François Gillet who’s parry fell to Ruud Vormer, who opted for a delicate lob rather than smashing home but his effort was cleared off the line and it felt like the frustration was building. Then, in stoppage time of the first half, the ball broke loose about 20 metres from the goal and Oscar Duarte drove a shot that took a huge deflection into the net: 1-0 Brugge, lucky? Yes, but it was the just reward for their persistent pressure.

Abdoulay Diaby replaced Bolingoli at the beginning of the second-half and made a fairly immediate impact eight minutes in when his excellent run into the Mechelen box was brought to an abrupt hault by Seth De Witte and the referee awarded Club Brugge with a penalty. Diaby converted with a left-foot smasher sailing past Gillet. Duarté was involved in Brugge’s second-goal when he got a hold of the ball in his own half and hit a tremendously weighted diagonal cross-field pass over the last Mechelen defender to match the blind-sided run made by the impressive Dierckx, who took it past the Malinois keeper and finished with consummate ease.

The Brugge barrage continued and Oularé and De Sutter will be disappointed they were unable to add to their team’s tally, but in the end Club Brugge will be relieved that they are back to winning ways and that they kept a clean sheet. This was a crucial victory that will give the team an important morale boost ahead of their difficult game against Panathinaïkos on Wednesday.

My man of the match: Tuur Dierckx

Match Statistics

	Club Brugge	KV Mechelen
Shots	20	7
Shots On Target	6	3
Fouls	17	24
Yellow Cards (Reds)	1 (0)	3 (0)
Corners	6	3
Offsides	5	2
Possession	51%	49%