OHL starts play-offs with a false note and suffers first defeat of the season in Genk: “The pressure was already great and has now only increased”

“It had to happen sometime, for sure”, coach Jimmy Coenraets sighed. “Although that first league defeat still hurts, you know. We may not have been fully focused before the break, but in the second half we showed that we are not just in the lead. We’ve cut down some great opportunities. The tying goal only now fell into the slot, while we had earned it much earlier. I am convinced that if that 2-1 had fallen before the closing quarter, we would have gone on and on. Genk was on his gums and that was not the case with us yet. Let’s call that positive. The competition is becoming a wear and tear and I saw in some teams that the tank has shrunk considerably. Sunday morning we trained and I could see that the cups of most of the players were fresh. We need that.”

There are two matches on the list for OHL in the coming days. AA Gent will visit on Tuesday, the clash in Anderlecht will take place on Saturday. “We will only look at that from Wednesday. First there is Ghent, which is a team with ups and downs. The Buffalos are a young team with a lot of talent. They can become leading in the future. Their coach stated that this final round was a good learning experience. They have nothing to lose and play freely, I expect them to make an outlier here and there. The pressure is on us and has only increased over the weekend. After the half of the points and the defeats of us and Anderlecht, Standard and Club YLA are also participating again. It will be an exciting battle, but we remain positive. We still have everything in our own hands.”