Dessers and Ganago on target as Genk hold Lens in friendly

Cyriel Dessers and Ignatius Ganago found the back of the net as Genk held Lens to a 1-1 draw in a pre-season game on Saturday.

Nigerian forward Dessers joined the Blue and White in June from Dutch side Heracles Almelo, where he shone during his one-year stay with the club.

The 25-year-old won the 2019–20 Eredivisie joint-top scorer award along with Steven Berghuis with 15 goals apiece and had 18 strikes in 29 appearances across all competitions for the club before his departure.  

Dessers has been in fine form since his arrival at Luminus Arena, scoring in their victories over AZ Alkmaar and Excelsior.

Cameroon international Ganago is also a summer arrival at Stade Bollaert-Delelis, joining the newly-promoted Ligue 1 side from OGC Nice.

The African stars made key contributions in the encounter, with Dessers opening the scoring in the 44th minute from the penalty spot.

Ganago then levelled for Franck Haise’s men at the hour mark to ensure the Blood and Gold avoided defeat in the match.

The African players will hope to continue their fine performances in front of goal in their next pre-season games.

Dessers was handed his Super Eagles first call-up against Sierra Leone in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying game in March but the outbreak of the coronavirus forced the match to be postponed indefinitely.

The 25-year-old started his career with OH Leuven’s youth team and was promoted to the senior side in 2013.

The forward made only one league appearance for Leuven before teaming up with Lokeren in April 2014 and featured in 32 league games for the Belgian club.

The striker also played for NAC Breda and Utrecht before moving to Heracles Almelo in the summer of 2019.

Ganago, meanwhile, made his debut for Cameroon in a friendly against Tunisia in October 2019 and will hope to deliver impressive performances for Lens in the 2020-21 season to boost his chances of playing regularly for the West Africans.