Jupiler Pro League – matchday 20 – 27/12/25 – 6:16 PM
| time | icon | player | homeTime | homeIcon | homePlayer | score | awayPlayer | awayIcon | awayTime |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The worshiped robbery 8′, 1 – 0 | |||||||||
| goal door David Tosevski na 61′, 1 – 1 |
KV Mechelen was not able to spoil its fans in its year-end finale. KVM quickly took the lead, but then didn’t make much of it against Dender. The Red Lantern deservedly came alongside on the hour mark and even missed a golden three-pointer. They keep the deficit to Cercle Brugge at 4 points after the 1-1 draw.
KV Mechelen – Dender in a nutshell:
- Key moment
In the final phase, Dender comes close to the winning goal three times, but Miras is the bogeyman for the red lantern. The Mechelen goalkeeper parries Rodes’ shot and also shows excellent reflexes on dangerous goal attempts by Nsimba and Cools.
- Man of the match
Nacho Miras may not have expected a busy evening against the red lantern, but it was still a match in which the Spanish goalkeeper was able to distinguish himself. Not just with his triple save in the final phase. He was only left without a chance after Toshevski’s header.
- Remarkable
Dender has now been undefeated for three away games in a row with 7 out of 9. Strangely enough, the bottom team scored more points away from home this season (9 out of 30) than on home field (4 out of 30).
KV Mechelen does not push through after a dream start
“We have to grab Dender by the throat from the first minute and not give them the impression that they can get something here.” The message of Frédéric Vanderbiest was clear and his boys executed the plan perfectly after a somewhat hesitant start. Barely seven minutes after kick-off it was already 1-0.
Cools headed Servais’ cross away centrally, but right at Koudou’s feet. And he did something wonderful with it. From outside the sixteen he rammed the ball into the corner with a wonderful kick in one go, Dietsch was left without a chance.
The lead was lost, but KV Mechelen did not push through and Dender could not create any significant opportunities. Only ten minutes before half-time did the visitors shake the tree when Ferraro took a swing, but Miras was not surprised.
The Mechelen goalkeeper was beaten a few minutes later when a deflected shot by Nsimba hit the post and was helped onto the line by Konaté during Cools’ replay.
In extra time, Nsimba was able to score after all when a cross from Ferraro reached him via Kvet and he blasted the ball high into the goal. But the VAR had seen hands from Kvet Roman and referee Ledda also saw it that way. So not 1-1.
Miras keeps Dender from winning
But the disallowed goal was not a wake-up call for KV Mechelen, as the home team came out of the dressing room weak. Dender started sharply, Goncalves quickly put Miras to work with a free kick.
On the hour mark, Miras Nacho was once again the Mechelen savior when Kvet was able to score in the box. The goalkeeper needed a real cat jump to prevent the equalizer.
But KV Mechelen continued to play with fire and so the equalizer eventually came. Goncalves painted a corner on Toshevski’s head and now Miras had to concede.
KV Mechelen suddenly woke up and pushed Dender back, but in the zone of truth things always went wrong. Koudou, Van Brederode and Lauberbach all stood at the cannon, but always fired within range of Guillaume Dietsch.
In the end it was Dender that came closest to victory. Miras had to show his skills three times to keep Rodes, Nsimba and Cools from scoring the winning goal.
Even when Dender had to play the final minutes with one man less after a second yellow card for De Fougerolles, KV Mechelen was unable to turn the tide. It ends a particularly strong first part of the season, albeit somewhat on a down note, with a 1 out of 6.
Red Lantern Dender doesn’t make much progress with a point.
Milkon: “Proud of the boys, but not sufficiently rewarded”
- Hayk Milkon (coach Dender): “We can be very proud of what we have achieved. We have had some very good moments and brought the intensity that we have to bring every week. And that despite many setbacks in this match, that is emotional stability. We started again on a false note where on a corner kick a second ball from 25 meters was simply kicked in low and hard by a bunch of legs. Then you have to stay calm and keep doing the right things and we did that for a whole match today.”
“In the end, the challenge became even greater with ten men. I am very proud of the performance of my boys, but we were not rewarded enough. A goal was disallowed, we had to play with ten and then there were also a few opportunities where it just wasn’t there. With such a good goalkeeper you also know that it is not easy to score a lot of goals.”
“That disallowed goal? The arm was against the body and perhaps touched the ball and in that way the ball was discarded. I thought that in the event of an unintentional handball where the player does not score, a goal would not be disallowed. I hope that Mr. Lardot will give the correct explanation about this and then I will be able to take that into account in my future analyzes of the images.”
- Fred Vanderbiest (coach KV Mechelen): “If you draw against Dender at home, it feels like a defeat. However, we started the match reasonably well and with the 1-0 the most difficult thing was done. But then you see that today there is some skill missing and you miss certain guys to push further. Dender perhaps came back deservedly, they were very dangerous in stationary phases. We were not alert enough there for the second week in a row. That is an area to work on. In the last half hour we threw in a few guys earlier than expected, where we took a risk. At the end you see that Halhal and Kireev lacked pace. That lack of freshness ensures that you cannot take the lead at the end and you also had to pay attention in the transition and on stationary phases.”
“We have dropped a few too many points at home this season. These are points that in the final settlement may cancel out the good results against the top teams. I expect that we will have to score another 15 to 17 out of 30 to finish in the top six. After the winter break we have that tough match at Union and then there will be six matches in which we will have to do it, because the last three are very tough.”
End
No winner in the match between KV Mechelen and Dender. The home team started excellently with an early goal from Koudou, but Dender fought back into the match in the second half with a header goal from Toshevski. In the final phase the visitors were even close to victory, but Miras kept KV Mechelen afloat with a triple save.
Goncalves’ corner is cleared by KV Mechelen. It is the last achievement of this competition.
Dender gets another free kick and so it is all hands on deck at KV Mechelen. Goncalves drops the ball in the box and the home team also has to allow a corner kick.
We are heading for a division of points. Or is the sting in the tail for KV Mechelen or Dender?
An extra 5 minutes will be added.
Red for De Fougerolles
Dender has to complete the final phase with ten of his team. De Fougerolles stops Van Brederode incorrectly and rightly receives his second yellow card.
Miras also stops Cools!
Three in a row for the Mechelen goalkeeper, because Miras also had to intervene on the corner kick. He has an excellent reflex on a Cools header.
New opportunity for Dender and this time it is Nsimba who can decide in the sixteen. Miras again pulls off an excellent save. The goalkeeper just manages to tap the ball into a corner.
Lo and behold, suddenly it is actually Dender that almost takes the lead with a good combination. Kvet sends Berte away on the right and the substitute brings the ball low in front of goal. Rodes takes it in one go, but straight at Miras and he is able to deflect the attempt.
Sloppy finish
KV Mechelen does everything it can, but things always go wrong in the finishing touches. Now it is Lauberbach who, after a smooth attack, also ends up within reach of Dietsch.
Rodes is still being dropped into the team at Dender. Viltard did his job.
Hands van Cools?
Fred Vanderbiest makes a lot of noise on the sidelines and that has everything to do with possible hands from Cools. He received a cross from Lauberbach against his arm in the box, but referee Ledda and the VAR saw no problem with it.
Van Brederode aims over
Van Brederode tries with a place ball after a good combination with Servais, but he cannot keep his shot low. Time is slowly running out for KV Mechelen.
Worth a look
