Beveren end their slump with a clinical display
Vasland-Beveren secured a comfortable 3-0 victory over Ostend Leuven in the fifth round of the Jupiler Pro League on Saturday evening. The hosts had lost their last two outings and were looking to put a stop to that run, and they did so with three goals in the second half. To be fair, the result tells only part of the story — the visitors had already dropped all five points they had played for.
The breakthrough came in the 69th minute when Chris Lokesa made the difference, finishing a move that had built steadily from the middle of the park. Jearl Margaritha extended the lead in the 85th minute, and Moïse Elohim Victoire Kaboré added a late third in stoppage time. By then the match had settled into a rhythm, and Ostend's attempts to respond never really materialised.
The statistics show a fairly even contest in terms of possession — 48 per cent for the hosts against 52 per cent for the visitors — but the quality of chances told a different story. Beveren managed seven shots on target compared to four, and created four big chances while their opponents managed only one. It's a pattern you see often enough: the side that holds the ball doesn't always create the better opportunities.
There were plenty of changes across the pitch, particularly in the 72nd minute when Ostend brought on three players at once. The substitution of Chris Lokesa himself in the 78th minute was notable — he had scored and was being replaced, which suggests the manager was looking to protect his lead rather than press further. Four yellow cards were shown in total, none of which altered the course of the game.
The result leaves Vasland-Beveren on six points in 12th place, while Ostend Leuven remain bottom of the table with zero points from five matches. We had tipped the visitors for victory with 87 per cent confidence, but the match went the other way — and that's often how it is when a team has nothing left to play for and one has something to prove.
