OMONOIA FALL SHORT IN BELGIUM

Omonoia have had their way with Belgian side KAA Gent in recent years, but this time, Gent finally gets the better of Omonoia by a 1-0 margin in Ghent. Some poor defending allowed for a smash and grab goal, and some opportunities lost late in the match cost Omonoia on this night. Omonoia’s next UEFA Conference League action will come on the 28th of November in Nicosia, at home to Legia Warszawa.

Omonoia visited Gent at Planet Group Arena in Ghent. Gent had the better of the possession in the first half. The first attempt on goal came off the boot of Mathias Delorge but Fabiano turned it aside. Then Delorge put another one on goal, this time off his head, but Fabiano was at the near post to greet him.

The hosts did break through eventually, a long ball from Tiago Araujo just barely cleared Adam Lang’s head, and found Omri Gandelman in plenty of space. Gandelman had all day to pick his spot, and while Fabiano played it as best he could, he had little chance of making a save on a good finish by Gandelman, and Gent had their opener in the 31st minute.

Gent almost doubled their advantage in a similar way, but this time Fabiano came way out of his box to break it up. Seconds later, yet another similar ball came to Momodou Sonko, who Fabiano was able to thwart, and Andri Gudjohnsen mercifully put the rebound wide. Gent led Omonoia 1-0 at halftime.

Less than a minute into the second half, Omonoia finally had a real chance, and Davy Roef did well to knock Saidou Alioum’s strike aside for a corner. Veljko Simic came on to replace Alioum, and Simic set up Andronikos Kakoullis for a powerful header, but Roef was able to get down and make the save. Simic then had a shot deflect to fellow sub Mariusz Stepinski, but the Polish striker’s attempt lacked power and it was a routine save for Roef.

Fabiano then kept Omonoia in the match by punching Matisse Samoise’s strike away. A fortuitous bounce presented an absolute gift for Stepinski, but he rushed his shot and missed the target. Kakoullis then set Stepinski up again, but once again Stepinski rushed the shot, and whiffed for an easy save for Roef. Those were Omonoia’s last chances to avoid the loss, and so it ended 1-0 in favor of Gent.

Gent(Wouter Vrancken): 33. Davy Roef(GK), 18. Matisse Samoise(’75 35. Gilles De Meyer), 4. Tsuyoshi Watanabe(Captain), 23. Jordan Torunarigha, 20. Tiago Araujo(’85 3. Archie Brown), 15. Atsuki Ito, 6. Omri Gandelman, 16. Mathias Delorge(’85 8. Pieter Gerkens), 19. Franck Surdez, 11. Momodou Sonko(’75 22. Noah Fadiga), 9. Andri Gudjohnsen(’75 21. Max Dean)

Omonoia(Valdas Dambrauskas): 40. Fabiano(GK, Captain), 24. Amine Khammas(’86 3. Fotis Kitsos), 30. Nikolas Panayiotou, 22. Adam Lang, 2. Alpha Diounkou, 20. Mateo Maric(’77 31. Ioannis Kousoulos), 80. Novica Erakovic(’64 14. Mariusz Stepinski), 99. Saidou Alioum(’64 21.Veljko Simic), 76. Charalambos Charalambous, 17. Giannis Masouras(’77 75. Loizos Loizou), 9. Andronikos Kakoullis

Andrew Mantzas

Twitter: @MantzasNC