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Super-sub Okereke leads Club Brugge past Sint-Truiden
The Nigerian striker came off the bench to hand the Blue-Black all points at stake against the Canaries on Saturday night
David Okereke was Club Brugge’s hero in their 1-0 triumph over Sint-Truiden in Saturday’s Belgian topflight encounter.
Having replaced compatriot Emmanuel Dennis in 53rd minute, the 23-year-old made his presence felt four minutes later by scoring the fixture’s only goal.
With Club Brugge travelling to Rome for Tuesday’s Champions League outing versus AS Roma, manager Philippe Clement rested some of his key players. Clinton Mata’s place was taken by Ignace Van der Brempt, while Eduard Sobol replaced Uruguayan star Federico Ricca in the starting XI.
The hosts started the game brightly and had the first chance at goal when Sobol found his way into the visitors’ goal area but he could not beat goalkeeper Daniel Schmidt.
Few minutes later, on loan Ajax forward Noa Lang failed to connect to a cross from Hans Vanaken, while Simon Mignolet was forced to make a brilliant save off Duckens Nazon’s corner kick.
Clement’s men swarmed Sint-Truiden’s half, yet, their efforts yielded no goal as the Canaries maintained an impressive defensive approach.
Before the half-time break, Mignolet produced a stunning save to clear away Pol Garcia’s well-taken free-kick.
At the beginning of the second half, another chance appeared for the home team, but Lang blasted his effort wide. In dire need of goals, Okereke came on for Dennis in the 53rd minute and he justified his inclusion with a fine strike.
The Nigerian was played by Lang and he made no mistakes slotting the ball past goalkeeper Schmidt. Club Brugge came close to scoring more goals but were halted by Schmidt’s impressive goalkeeping.
With no goals scored in the remaining minutes, Stef Van Winckel’s men crumbled to their eighth defeat of the 2020-21 Belgian First Division A campaign.
Cote d'Ivoire's Odilon Kossounou was in action from start to finish, while Angola’s Mata was brought in as a replacement for Der Brempt with ten minutes left to play.
For the visitors, Angola international Jonathan Buatu saw every minute of action as Guinea’s Mory Konate came off for Christopher Durkin with 20 minutes left to play. Ghana’s Samuel Asamoah was substituted for Alexander Filippov with 14 minutes left to play.
After facing Lazio, Club Brugge continue their march towards a 17th league title with a visit to Royal Antwerp while Sint-Truiden welcome Sporting Charleroi to Stayen.
