Team : Jean Minne

James Philpot, Chris Huber, Dex Bernardo

Maarten Billiet, Rich McGeehan, Tarik Si MHammed, Hodge, Daniele Mineo

Nils McGrath, Daniel Donner

Bench : Oliver Lodge, Kris Mercelis

The Whites arrived to Rosières in a sunny day that foreshadowed some nice surprises. A home game against the bottom of the league that absolutely should not be underestimated as specified by the captains in the pre-match speech. Warm-up on the grass pitch where you could see the ambulance squarely on the field for a serious injury, not pleasant to see, but the team was very focused and continued to be motivated for this game. After a few passes/shots, the referee called both teams, the game was about to start.

1st half :

The opponent played relatively low while the Whites controlled the ball and gradually settled the game into the opponent's half. Meanwhile, although they had no control of the ball, the opponent created a small opportunity, without consequence. We had to increase the tempo to concretize the possession. The defensive trio was solid enough to manage the opponents' attempts, well helped by the flanks to cut the passing lines. The opponent tried a lot of long balls, which were easy to recover for our defense, which revived the action through the midfield, which made passes both vertically thanks to the availability of the attackers, and towards the side with the flanks quite active.

This was working fine, but so far no goals. After an nth sterile attack from the opponent, Chris recovered the ball and slipped it to Dex, one-two Daniele-Dex, he then passed the ball to Nils who, with a nice touch passed it to Daniele who left on the flank, Rich had made the move that cut through their midfield and Daniele passed him a ball in his run, he looked around and saw Maarten's insertion and, with a very precise and incisive ball, threw it in front of the goalkeeper, Maarten without pity found the way to the goal: 1-0 for the Whites !! At that moment we could clearly recognize the identity of our game: solid and calm defense when we have the ball, vertical pass towards Hodge-Pirlo who dictates the tempo, vertical pass towards Rich-Gerrard or Tarik-Kanté who correctly retains the ball and throws the flanks, crosses or edge of the box passes.

This brought us a lot of corners and opportunities, unfortunately no more goals. For example, this cross from Maarten on the head of Nils or this shot from the left of the same Maarten captured by the goalkeeper. Rich's corners were hit relatively well but didn't result in goals. On a classic breakthrough from Maarten on the right, the ball arrived in the area where Daniel slipped a good ball to Nils, Daniele who came from the other side had felt the situation very well and offered an option to Nils who took the opportunity to pass a good ball with a tightrope walker technique: missile tap-in and 2-0 !! Kris, very attentive on the bench, captured this moment that will go down in posterity. The game was beautiful to see because the physical availability and the technical capacities were present in Rosières Fortress. A couple of shots and opportunity concluded this first half. The captains congratulated us for our performance but asked for a little more, particularly in the realization of opportunities

2nd Half :

The second half took place at the same tempo but the opponents decided to play a little more with the ball. The first 15 minutes are not to our advantage but the defence was watching the grain, well helped by the midfield and the flanks careful not to be overwhelmed. A classic split leg from Chris saved a situation that could have been very dangerous. Dex and James were cleaning up and weren't really in trouble, although the team weren't developing the game with the same ease as in the first half.

First change was made with the entry of Oliver for Hodgy, Daniel went down in midfield and Daniele took position in attack. The team was slowly but surely regaining its dominance and the opportunities were raining down again. On a good movement in the box, Daniel found Daniele thanks to a delicious pass, Daniele won the position and the ball on his opponent who literally fell on him, penalty as big as a house not whistled ! Anyway, the Whites kept trying to add to the score and, thanks to Oliver's very good entry, in terms of possession and rough defense, they were able to do so. In the meanwhile, the opponent played their last shot with their fastest player, but Tarik took care of cutting him to prevent him from progressing, while avoiding the yellow card, a master of the matter, so much that Chris took a yellow for him.

Following a good call from Daniele on his flank, Oliver delivered a good pass and Dani, after a small nutmeg over his opponent, looked for Nils in the box who did not arrive on the ball, well defended by the opponent. Asphyxiating pressure from Rich and Daniel, which allowed Daniele to make a nice gesture to throw Nils to the goal, whose pass did not find a taker. On the opponent's side there were a few attempts so a well placed free kick but kicked well above the fence. There was still a little time to push a little more, like this free kick from Rich placed precisely on the head of Daniele who passes the ball to Nils, unfortunately no goal on this occasion. The referee whistled the end of the match and victory was achieved! Finally, Kris did not enter to the field but his encouragement and that of our teammate Martijn pumped us up.

It is true that we should have scored many more goals, it is true that the opponent could have believed it during part of the second half, but it is also true that at no time did the team risk the defeat. This match was dominated, and the victory was more than deserved. It could be the trap match par excellence, against the bottom of the league and the team was well equipped mentally to win this match. There are 6 games left to accomplish what we all want, work and humility the words that our captains instill in us, the reality that I can see in every game and training. There is no easy games. Victories are always the result of sacrifice of the whole team.

The party continued around the grass pitch, where Lolo led his team in an epic match, which saw our favourite pineapple enter and be decisive with the assist that snatched the draw.

The man of the match vote was done in the same place and offered a great battle between Tarik, Rich and Dani. The beer convoys were flowing, and the weather was good in Rosières, home sweet home. The children were happy to get their shoes dirty with mud.

Apologies in advance for anything I forgot, this is just the

MoM and reporter's point of view: Dan 'Missile' Mineo