Once again no Ghent victory against Union, because thanks to two three crazy minutes, the Unionists won 1-3 in the Planet Group arena. For the Buffaloes, who have not been able to win ten games against the Brussels team, it will be a bad end to the year. And Union? That extends his undefeated streak once again.
Angstgegner. According to Van Dale: (sports) formidable opponent. Exactly what Union has proven to be for AA Gent since its return to the highest level. In the previous nine matches between the Buffalos and the Unionists, the people of Ghent had not been able to win once. They lost four times and drew five times. And on Boxing day there was a fifth defeat.
Union coach Pocognoli had to make do without Mac Allister, Burgges, and especially: Loïc Lapoussin. The dribbler has again fallen out of favor at Union after missing another training session in the run-up to the match at Ghent. A shame, because the Malagasy remains a feast for the eyes.
Fortunately for the visitors, Soufiane Boufal initially seemed to take over that role, as the Moroccan started the top match actively and took control of the match together with his team. It resulted in a first chance for Ivanovic after just ten seconds.
Not 1-0, but 0-1
However, that good start was not a harbinger of what was to come, because afterwards the game came to a standstill too often to be able to speak of a high-quality game of football. Moris saved Dean’s shot face to face and Roef also had to make a save on the other side, but otherwise there were no chances.
Fortunately, three crazy minutes made up for a lot in that respect. On the half hour, Ross Sykes messed up at Union. While playing football, the Englishman shot a ball rather thoughtlessly into Gandelman, who gratefully accepted the Christmas present. However, the Israeli – and by extension the Buffalos – was unlucky because Sykes had just kicked the ball against his arm, resulting in the goal being rightly disallowed. So not 1-0. Even more: a minute later Union was ahead. The Ghent midfield suffered unnecessary loss of ball, after which Promise David was only allowed to approach Roef to score the 0-1. Ghent trailed and little reason to cheer for chairman Sam Baro, who had taken a seat in the spy cup for the occasion.
Quick decision
And that would be no different in the second half, because after just 54 minutes the match was actually already over. Thanks again for three crazy minutes. First, Roef went under the ball on a corner kick, allowing Sykes to head into an empty goal and less than two minutes later El Hadj beautifully delivered the final blow: 0-3. Ghent on the ropes.
The signal for the supporters to firmly express their dissatisfaction. We hope for Baro that he had already taken his place in the grandstand again at that moment. Especially because the post saved Ghent from even worse. On the hour mark, Gudjohnsen, who replaced the injured Max Dean, was able to reduce the score to 1-3 and for a moment a pilot light went off. Both teams then had plenty of opportunities to score at least once more, but Union’s victory was never in danger again.
And so the third time was not the charm, but neither was the tenth time for AA Gent against Union. The Unionists, who have been undefeated for thirteen matches, also leapfrog the Buffaloes to fifth place.
AA Gent: Roef; Gambor (93′ De Meyer), Watanabe, Torunarigha, Brown; Ito, Gandelman (68′ Lopes), Gerkens (58′ Kums); Surdez (58′ Varela), Dean (46′ Gudjohnsen), Sonko
Union: Life; Sykes, Machida, Leysen; Khalaili, Boufal (46’ El Hadj), Sadiki, Vanhoutte, Castro-Montes (67’ Niang); Ivanovic (84′ Van De Perre), David (67′ Rodriguez)
Goals: 30′ David 0-1, 51′ Sykes 0-2, 54′ El Hadj 0-3, 60′ Gudjohnsen 1-3
Yellow cards: Khalaili
Referee: Nicolas Laforge
Andri Gudjohnsen (Ghent): “Unacceptable”
Andri Gudjohnsen scored the savior, but was very strict after Ghent’s 1-3 defeat against Union. “If you are 0-3 behind, it is of course difficult to turn the tide,” said the Icelander. “It is also unacceptable how those goals are achieved. If you go into the second half and you lose focus for a few minutes… You just can’t let that happen.” Gudjohnsen also saw a reason for this. “Those goals are a result of a lack of concentration and intensity. You have to be one hundred percent focused in such a match and bring intensity for the entire match, otherwise you will be punished. We lose second balls, we lose duels. That is not what we stand for. If we want to win these kinds of matches and compete at the top, we have to be there every match. Once again: this was unacceptable.”
Alessio Castro-Montes: “What was bad before is now good”
At Union, of course, there were only satisfied faces after the first away win of the season. And this on familiar territory for Alessio Castro-Montes. “We were keen to win. Not only to take that first away win, but also to climb to fifth place,” beamed Castro-Montes, who was in the starting line-up for the first time since October after injuries. Unlike earlier this season, Union maintained its lead this time. Although the wing defender still saw room for improvement. “We still have to try to avoid that goal. If it is 0-3, we have to make sure that match is played. So we managed to keep it going this time, but we can do even better.” In recent weeks, Union has certainly found its way to the goal again. “The things that were bad at the beginning of the season are now going well,” Castro-Montes concluded.
