Belgium round-up: Brugge demolish nearest rivals

Club Brugge KV extended their lead at the top of the Belgian first division with a 5-0 demolition of nearest rivals Sporting Lokeren St-Niklaas Waaslan.

Perfect tonic
The match, which had been postponed from 26 October due to security problems, was the perfect tonic for Brugge who, after elimination from the UEFA Champions League, were then beaten 2-1 at home by German club VfB Stuttgart in their UEFA Cup third round first-leg match last week.

Two from Ceh
Goals from Nastja Ceh (2), Sandy Maertens, Andrés Mendoza and an own goal from Sambegou Bangoura paved the way for a superb home win in difficult conditions. It was all the more impressive because Brugge were missing key players Alin Stoica, Sergiy Serebrennikov and Rune Lange. Brugge are now seven points clear of Lokeren, having played a game less.

A white December
"People thought that this would be a black December for us, but I think it will be a white December", said coach Trond Sollied. "Against Stuttgart, we were not fresh at all but now we have proved that we were in good shape again, even if the pitch was very heavy with all that rain."

Kolar wins it
Elsewhere tonight, RSC Anderlecht moved up to third after coming from behind to record a 2-1 win against KFC Lommelse SK. Ibrahim Tankary gave the visitors an unlikely lead after 35 minutes but Yves Vanderhaeghe restored parity on the hour and young Czech midfield player Martin Kolar struck three minutes later to give Anderlecht all three points.