Belgium
Oost Vlaanderen Provincial 1
Sunday 27th January 2019
kick Off 15.00. On Time !
K. Atletische Vereniging Dendermonde 0 K.F.C. Eendracht Zele 3, attendance 173
41’ 0-1
61’ 0-2
84’ 0-3
@ Ros Beiaard Stadion
Bakkerstraat 47
9200 Dendermonde
€7 Admission
Team Sheet, printed double side, free.
Today was a bit of a risk in travelling over for a match. The provinces of Liege, Namur, Hainaut and West Vlaanderen had decided to call off all their matches this weekend, whilst Luxembourg are still on their winter shutdown. However, Antwerpen, Brabant and Limburg had gone down the route of the Referee making a decision at the ground. Here in Oost Vlaanderen, there was no additional information, so as far as we knew, they were all expected to play. The only real problem today, as far as we were concerned, was that the car load was going to be watching two different matches and as I had already been to K. Sparta Waasmunster ( 2-0 v Yellow Blue Beveren, Provincial 3E, 1st February 2014) where the driver was heading, then I would be being dropped off en route. I had read on the club website how proud Dendermonde are to have one of the best kept pitches in the whole of Belgium and a truer fact would be difficult to find. The pitch was immaculate and even at the final whistle it still looked pristine.
It is not just the pitch that is excellent. The ground is an absolute cracker. The old main stand has been refurbished and is in fine condition. This is flanked by two big open terrace sections, with more behind one goal. The entire length of the pitch on the opposite side is covered, with a mixture of bucket seats and benches in the centre section, with the ends being terraced. Just to round things off, there are proper traditional corner floodlight pylons.
The match itself was certainly a slow burner. Dendermonde came into this in ninth place in the league table, having won away at second placed S.K. Lochristi last week. Zele, which is only four miles away, were in fourth place and well in with a chance of promotion to the Belgian League. An unmarked header at the far post opened the scoring just before the break, in what was a dreadful first half. It was game over just after the hour mark, when a decisive pass opened up the defence to make it 0-2 and a close range finish rounded things off with six minutes left. The win leaves Zele in fourth place, just two points behind the leaders K. Racing Club Bambrugge. Dendermonde drop to tenth.
A miscalculation by the driver, forgetting about the length of time needed for picking up after the game, meant we were never going to make check in for our 19.20 return crossing on The Tunnel. On arrival, at 18.52, the timetable was once again suffering delays. We checked in, but there was no indication of what train we were actually on. It turned out it was the retimed 19.55, which ended up leaving two minutes early. Despite warnings that the M20 motorway was shut all weekend between Junctions 9 and 11, this turned out to be false, so a nice straightforward journey to Folkestone and back.
