Union Saint-Gilloise overcame a halftime deficit to defeat bottom-placed Cercle Brugge 5-2 at the Dudenpark, bouncing back from a two-goal setback after a red card and a flurry of second-half scoring, Sporza reported.

Early Cercle Brugge Penalty Stuns the Dudenpark

Cercle Brugge entered matchday 9 of the Jupiler Pro League as the division’s last-placed side without a single win in their opening eight fixtures, yet began the contest with clear attacking intent. According to Sporza reporting, the visitors found their breakthrough in the 24th minute when Nohim Chibani pulled down Steve Ngoura inside the penalty area. Referee De Cremer immediately pointed to the spot, and Ngoura stepped up to drill the resulting penalty past goalkeeper Koffi for a 0-1 advantage. Cercle Brugge maintained their disciplined shape through the remainder of the first half, frustrating a dominant Union attack that generated multiple unsuccessful attempts from Raul Florucz, Chibani, and Guilherme against Cercle goalkeeper Coucke.

Union Responds Quickly After Own Goal

The match turned dramatically immediately after the restart. Just 46 minutes in, former Union forward Dante Vanzeir drove hard along the baseline and cut the ball across the face of goal, where an unfortunate touch from defender Massire Sylla deflected it past Koffi into his own net for 0-2. Union responded instantly. Only a minute later, Raul Florucz curled a sharp strike from outside the eighteen-yard box past Coucke via the goalpost to halve the deficit at 1-2. Massire Sylla then atoned for his own goal on the hour mark, powering home a header following a long throw-in and a flick-on from Havenaar to make it 2-2.

The decisive flashpoint arrived in the 64th minute. Fresh off setting up the visitors’ early play, Dante Vanzeir lunged into an uncalculated tackle on De Roeve, prompting referee De Cremer to pull out a straight red card. Reduced to ten men, Cercle Brugge quickly unraveled under sustained home pressure. In the 74th minute, another defensive mishap proved fatal as Emmanuel Kakou caught a high clearance flush on his boot, inadvertently smashing the ball past his own goalkeeper to hand Union a 3-2 lead.

Union Capitalizes on the Man Advantage

With the visitors chasing the game, Union piled on further pressure. Relebohile Mofokeng, standing just 1.68 meters tall, surprised the Cercle defense in the 80th minute by looping a clever header over Coucke to extend the advantage to 4-2. In stoppage time, Mofokeng turned provider, delivering a precise high cross that substitute Kevin Rodríguez met from close range to seal the 5-2 scoreline in the 90+1st minute. A late effort by Havenaar in the dying seconds was ultimately disallowed for an earlier offside by Ross Sykes, finalizing the 5-2 scoreline.