Belgium
Hainaut Provincial 1
Sunday 18th October 2026
Kick Off 15.00 Actual 15.05
Erpion-Lacs de l’Eau d’Heure 3 R. Association Sportive Pays Blanc Antoinien 2, attendance 112
3’ 1-0
8’ 2-0
16’ 2-1
29’ 2-2
71’ 3-2
@ Stade Michel & Anne-Marie Algoet, Pitch 2 Synthetic
Ruelle Catton 36
6441 Erpion
€7 Admission
No Programme.
We were on the 0815 P&O ferry from Dover to Calais this morning, which ran to time, before making the 140 mile drive south east to the Belgian province of Hainaut, where 3rd in the league table were hosting 6th. I’d done a game at Erpion back in March 2014, when the club were known as Espoir Club Erpion, when they beat R. Baileux Sport 4-1 in a Hainaut Provincial 2 match in front of 129 spectators, which was the middle game of a treble for me, having done Jeunesse Sportive Froidchappeloise beforehand, then Sporting Club Montignies afterwards. In those days the main pitch here in Erpion was the grass one that runs widthways in front of the clubhouse, but they’ve since developed a 3G pitch, built in place of the former grass second pitch, which runs end on to the former main ground, but on a slightly higher plane. Spectator access is limited to the full length of each touchline, with a seated stand on one side and a pair of perspex dugouts opposite. The clubhouse remains as it was, with the changing rooms still adjacent to their former pitch, hidden out of sight, down below pitch level on the far side.
Erpion got off to a flying start, taking a third minute lead, when a cross cum shot from the left found it’s way into the far corner of the net, but it was hard to tell if this was directly in or had a touch from another player on the way. They doubled their lead five minutes later, when a ball over the top saw an initial shot saved, but it was followed in on the rebound by a supporting player. Antoinien pulled one back after sixteen minutes, cutting in from the right before a shot from the edge of the box went in via a deflection. They levelled it up at 2-2 just before the half hour mark, when a cross from the right was swept in at the far post. Surprisingly, there was only one goal in the second half and it was enough to win the game for Erpion, when a one-two on the edge of the box was finished with a low shot into the bottom corner with just under twenty minutes left. The win sees Erpion move up to second in the league table, where they trail leaders R.F.C. Luingnois by seven points after nine games played, whilst Antoinien drop to eighth.
The route back from Erpion is mainly in France and we stopped en route in Steenvorde for our evening meal, before heading onwards to Calais. Our 22.25 P&O crossing left on time and I was back home just before 00.30.
The following two photos show the grass pitch I saw Erpion play on in 2014. Unchanged in the intervening twelve years.
