Belgium
Luxembourg Provincial 1
Wednesday 1st May 2019
Kick Off 15.00 Actual 15.04
R.F.C. Saint-Hubert 0 R. Etoile Sportive Champlonaise 1, attendance 154
20’ 0-1
@ Rue Des Pres
6870 Saint-Hubert
€6 Admission
Team Sheet, free.
With it being a Bank Holiday in Belgium it meant it was our destination for today’s match. Even better, it meant it would be an afternoon kick off, so we chose to do one of the longer trips and make use of the good weather, as we headed to the northern fringes of The Ardennes.
The match was 3rd versus 13th (second bottom) in the league table. Saint-Hubert were looking to cement their place in the play offs, whilst Champlon needed to win if they were to have any chance of avoiding relegation.
Anyone who was unaware of which of these two were in which position in the league table would have thought it was the opposite way round to what it actually is. Champlon were much the better team and they deservedly went ahead when a shot came back off the post for an easy tap in and they had chances to increase their lead before halftime. The second half was a different story though and was basically one way traffic, with it becoming a personal duel between the home Number 9 and the visiting ‘keeper. Twice the ‘keeper tipped the strikers headers onto the crossbar and he also made a last ditch save to claw away an effort that was destined for the top corner of the net. Even when he was finally beaten, there was a defender on the line to head the ball clear.
The result had little effect on the top of the table, as Saint-Hubert still qualified for the play offs, but with other results going against them, Champlon finish the season second from bottom, so will play in Provincial 2 next season.
As it was not a Bank Holiday in the U.K. it meant The Tunnel was eerily quiet and nice to see that we left two minutes earlier than scheduled on our outbound journey. The roads in Belgium and France were also very quiet, so the three and a quarter hour drive back for our scheduled 20.50 return was trouble free and with very few cars around at the Border Control, we were processed quickly and managed to make it onto the 20.20 crossing instead, as there were no queues whatsoever as we headed towards the boarding lanes.
