Gent II and Anderlecht II shared the points in a 2:2 draw at the Regular Season - 4 fixture of the Challenger Pro League on 5 September 2026. The match opened with goals from both sides within the first thirteen minutes, then settled into a pattern where decisions kept getting overturned. And here's the thing — you could feel the tension building without either team pulling away.
Abubakar Abdullahi gave Gent II the lead after just one minute, but Enzo sternal levelled eight minutes later. Ruslan Vydysh restored the hosts' advantage from the penalty spot in the thirteenth minute. By then Anderlecht knew they needed something to change the complexion of the game.
What followed was a sequence that tested patience. Moctar Diop had a penalty cancelled by VAR in the fifty-third minute, followed by Willsem boussaid's spot-kick ruled out two minutes later. Then came the third controversy — Pape Aliya N'dao saw his penalty cancelled in the seventy-first minute. Three decisions gone, and the score remained 2:1.
Substitutions started flowing around the hour mark. Mamadou Diallo and Matisse Samoise came on for Gent II at the break alongside Moctar Diop, who was withdrawn and replaced within minutes. Anderlecht brought on Willsem boussaid and Joël Kana-Katoto in the sixty-eighth minute, while Daniel James Wisdom also entered the fray. Things came to a head in stoppage time when Enzo sternal scored the late equaliser and collected two yellow cards in quick succession.
The statistics tell a story of control without dominance. Anderlecht enjoyed 54 per cent possession and registered fourteen shots on target against Gent II's four. Yet Gent II managed to match their opponents' output of four shots on target. Both sides committed similar numbers of fouls — fifteen and thirteen — and neither team received a red card despite the heated exchanges.
After this result Gent II sit twelfth in the table with four points from three games, their record reading one win, one draw and one defeat. Anderlecht remain fourteenth after four matches, having collected just one point from a draw and three losses. The gap between them remains narrow, and neither side has found a rhythm that suggests stability.