Union St. Gilloise hit five after Cercle Brugge were reduced to ten

Union St. Gilloise beat Cercle Brugge 5-2 at Stade Joseph Marien, and a red card just after the hour changed what the second half looked like.

Cercle Brugge were 3-1 down when Vanzeir was sent off in the 64th minute, and from there they had to finish the match a man short. Ngoura had put them in front from the penalty spot after 24 minutes, and an own goal in the 48th brought Union level before Florucz put the home side ahead. The dismissal came at the point where the match was already tilting one way.

Union St. Gilloise had 65% of the ball, which is well above the 51.3% they usually hold at home this season. Possession simply means the share of time each side has the ball at its feet. The home side also took 22 shots, compared with their usual 17.7, and their expected goals figure, a rough measure of how good the chances were rather than how many, came to 1.70 against a normal 1.44.

Cercle had 35% of the ball, which is below the 44.3% they usually hold away from home, and they managed just five shots against a travelling average of 12.8. Their chances were not poor in quality, though, because their expected goals figure of 1.23 sits close to the 1.38 they usually create on the road. They simply had fewer efforts to work with, and only two of those five were on target.

Much of the scoreline depended on Gaëtan Coucke, the Cercle goalkeeper, who made eight saves. Union's keeper had one to make. That is a heavy workload for one player, and it is the reason Cercle were still in the game until the red card. Without those saves the margin would have been wider long before the final whistle.

The goals tell the same story. Cercle conceded five, when they usually concede two on their travels, and seven goals in one match is more than double the league's usual figure of 3.1 a game. Union's two conceded was also more than their home habit, which is one of the reasons Cercle's own goals and penalty count for so little in the final tally.

A late Havenaar strike in the 90th minute was ruled out for offside after a VAR check, the video review referees now use on goals. Union finished the match fourth in the table with 20 points from eight games. Cercle, who sit 18th, have three points from the same number of matches and have yet to win any of them.

Player of the matchMassire Sylla1 goal8.0

Gaëtan Coucke8 saves7.9

Relebohile Mofokeng1 goal7.6

Besfort Zeneli4 chances created7.5