Club Brugge bounce back

Three of the five Eerste Klasse leaders failed to win this weekend but victories for RAA Louviéroise and Club Brugge KV kept them on top of the pile.

Lange header
Club Brugge beat K. Lierse SK 1-0 on Saturday as Trond Sollied's men bounced back from the side's disappointing elimination from the UEFA Champions League at the hands of FC Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday. The fans had to wait until ten minutes from time though, when Norwegian striker Rune Lange's header finally gave the home side the lead.

Surprise front-runners
The win moved Club Brugge on to ten points where they join this season's surprise packages La Louvière. Last year's seventh-place finishers played on Friday, beating KRC Genk 2-0 at the Tivoli stadium courtesy of second-half goals from Mickael Murcy and Nigerian international Peter Odemwingie.

Late turnaround
The result was Genk's first defeat of the season, an experience that also befell KVC Westerlo, who lost their place at the top after conceding two late goals against Cercle Bruges KSV. David Paas had given Westerlo the lead after just five minutes before Frederik Boi equalised on 83 minutes. With the game drifting towards a draw, Harold Meyssen grabbed the winner in added time to hand Cercle their first win of the season.

Winning run
The defeats for Westerlo and Genk and fellow frontrunners R. Excelsior Mouscron's draw against KSC Lokeren OV, enabled defending champions RSC Anderlecht to leap-frog all three sides into third place. Hugo Broos' team were without Ivorian striker Aruna Dindane, who scored twice in the 3-0 win against SL Benfica in their Champions League qualifier last Tuesday, as he is on international duty. But they still beat KAA Gent 2-0 to record their third consecutive league win, Nenad Jestrovic registering his first league goal of the season.

Difficult starts
Former Belgian international Marc Wilmots is finding coaching less straightforward than playing after his K. Sint-Truidense VV side lost again on Sunday, this time going down to a 1-0 home defeat against KSK Beveren. The result means that Truidense remain bottom on one point alongside fellow league newcomers KV Oostende, who lost 2-0 away to RAEC Mons. In the weekend's other game, R. Charleroi SC beat KFC Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen 1-0.