Buffalo, Buffalo, ai, ai Ghent. After AA Gent lost six to Anderlecht last weekend, the Buffaloes now also lost in the Conference League. Against the Swiss Lugano it became 2-0 after an early and a late goal.
Barely 2,672 fans attended the Stockhorn Arena in Thun for the match between the Swiss number two and AA Gent. Because the Gotthard tunnel closes at night, the majority of Lugano fans had missed the trip to Thun, some 350 kilometers away. It ensured that AA Gent actually received the most vocal support.
However, the Ghent supporters were quickly silenced, because after just five minutes the Buffaloes were behind. The first time the Swiss turned a blind eye, Samoise’s Hicham Mahou was given free rein to infiltrate the penalty area and calmly slot in the 1-0 to Daniel Schmidt. A very false start for the Buffaloes, who were able to counter immediately five minutes later. Only Sonko was too weak on a ball backwards from Samoise.
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Pale Buffalo’s
Was it a lack of ideas, a lack of quality or a combination of both? The fact is that Ghent did have control, but hardly created any opportunities. Watanabe could occasionally head the ball, but that was about it. The Swiss even helped out at one point by messing around at the back, but Gudjohnsen refused to accept the gift. The Icelander was preferred over Max Dean, but again could not convince. The same could be said of Sonko and Surdez. It is too variable with the Ghent wing players.
The best chance of the first half even belonged to the home team, but with a good reflex Schmidt kept the Buffalos in the game.
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Gandelman misses the opportunity
And even after rest we did not get better immediately. There was still Ghent control, but great opportunities were still not forthcoming. Just after the hour mark, Vrancken intervened. He brought Tibe De Vlieger and joker Omri Gandelman into the team and the latter immediately had a huge opportunity to score the equalizer. However, the Israeli hit the ball completely wrong, causing goalkeeper Saipi to get the ball right around him.
That big chance was ultimately the signal for more Ghent pressure. However, that yielded precious little. Ghent never came close to an equalizer and substitute Ousmane Doumbia even delivered the final blow five minutes before the end: 2-0. Once again the Ghent defense did not look too good.
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With 6 out of 12 in the League Phase after four match days, Ghent remains on course for European wintering. Especially with Northern Ireland’s Larne and Serbia’s Backa Topola as the remaining opponents. But this defeat against a mediocre Lugano is not great for confidence. The Buffaloes will also have to recover quickly, because Westerlo awaits on Sunday.
