Belgian First Division wrap: Cercle Brugge take derby honours

Cercle Brugge collected the bragging rights with a 1-0 victory in their derby against Club Brugge in the Belgian First Division on Sunday.

Hosts Club Brugge dominated possession at the Jan Breydel Stadium, but they were unable to find a way past their local rivals, who snatched the winner through Kristof D’haene 13 minutes from time.

Despite Club Brugge controlling the midfield early on, the first clear chance fell to Cercle midfielder Lukas van Eenoo, who shot narrowly wide.

Karel Geraerts went close twice for the home side, with one effort blocked on the line and another glancing the post.

Cercle’s only opportunities of note in the first-half fell to Ukrainian forward Oleg Lachtchouk, who failed to capitalise on a mistake from defender Daan van Gijseghem, before Peter van der Heyden cleared on the line again from the resulting corner.

Rostand Dorge Kouemaha struck the crossbar for Club Brugge early in the second half, with the ball hitting the line and bouncing clear.

The introduction of Morocco international Nabil Dirar saw the hosts continue to pile pressure on the beleaguered visitors, and substitute Kristof D’haene’s winner for Cercle came arrived completely against the run of play.

Victory takes Cercle one point above their luckless rivals and into seventh place on the table.

Zulte-Waregem collected three much-needed points with a surprise 2-0 win at home to Standard Liege.

Zulte went into the match in 11th, just eight points clear of the relegation zone, and were not expected to trouble Liege who dropped from fourth to fifth after Lokeren’s victory over Mechelen on Saturday.

Liege failed to regain fourth after drawing a blank at the Regenboog Stadion, with second-half strikes from Habib Habibou and Teddy Chevalier securing victory for the hosts.