Anderlecht v Górnik Łęczna

RSC Anderlecht Féminin 0-1 GKS Górnik Łęczna
UEFA Women’s Champions League Qualifying Round Group 3
Ainslie Park
Friday 10th August 2018

Glasgow City are the hosts for one of the mini-tournaments that comprise the qualifying stages of this year’s Women’s Champions League. With all the other games taking place while I’m at work, I took advantage of my half day Friday to make the familiar trip to Ainslie Park in order to catch the only game of the competition I’m able to see.

The Venue

Despite Glasgow City being the hosts for this group, the 2018 European Championships taking place in Glasgow at the moment meant that the visiting teams and officials could not be given sufficient accommodation in the city. The decision was therefore made to hold the group in Edinburgh, with Oriam at Heriot-Watt University and here at Ainslie Park being selected as the venues. I wrote about Ainslie Park here so won’t go in to details again. It’s an excellent venue for a game such as this, and always an accommodating and welcoming place to visit.

The Teams

RSC Anderlecht Féminin are the women’s team of the larger RSC Anderlecht club. They were initially formed in 1971 as Brussels Dames 71 before relocating to Anderlecht in 1993. As Anderlecht the club won the Belgian championship three times in the nineties before becoming founder members of the BeNe League, a joint top tier women’s league between Belgium and the Netherlands, in 2012. After three seasons, this league was disbanded and the two nations went back to their own national leagues. Anderlecht won the Super League Vrouwenvoetbal for the first time in the 2017-18 season in order to qualify for the Champions League. They defeated Glasgow City 2-1 in a tightly fought contest on Tuesday to open their campaign.

Polish Champions GKS Górnik Łęczna were formed in 2002, and are part of the larger sports club that shares their name. The first gained promotion to the Ekstraliga Kobiet in 2010 and won their first championship last season, finishing 9 points clear of second placed KKS Czarni Sosnowiec. They dismantled Georgian champions FC Martve 12-0 in their first game of the campaign on Tuesday.

The Game

Glasgow City had defeated Martve 7-0 earlier in the afternoon, meaning an Anderlecht victory would seal qualification. With just four minutes on the clock, the Belgians had the first chance of the match when Tine de Caigny knocked the ball across the face of the goal after reaching the byeline. Ştefania Vătafu arrived at the back post and got her head onto the ball, but it ended up wide of the post. With ten minutes played, Anderlecht were again on the offensive, and a looping deep cross from Sarah Wijnants was met by the head of Ella van Kerkhoven who could only find the side netting with her header.

With 17 minutes on the clock an dreadful header back towards her goalkeeper from Laura Deloose allowed Emilia Zdunek what looked like a glorious one-on-one opportunity against Anderlecht keeper Justien Odeurs. The Polish forward seemed to be lacking confidence though and attempted to square a pass instead of shooting, which was cut out and cleared from danger. Two minutes later, Wijnants played the ball into Elke van Gorp, who was forced wide by the GKS defence, but still managed to draw a decent save from Klaudia Kowalska in goal. With 25 minutes gone, GKS had a chance when Agata Guśicora headed just wide of the post from a wide free kick.

Both sides were lacking in composure in the final third and this showed with just over half an hour gone when Vătafu played in Wijnants, who struggled to deal with the ball in the box and took it far too wide to capitalise on the chance. With 39 minutes gone, a free kick from Anderlecht captain Laura Deneve was missed by everyone including Kowalska, but bounced off the head of de Caigny, who knew nothing about it, and was cleared by GKS.

WIth five minutes remaining in the half, GKS took the lead when Oduers allowed a tame looking effort from Dominika Grabowska wide on the right to slip past her. The ball cannoned back off the post and was turned into the empty net by Sylwia Matysik who was arriving at the back post. Taking the lead seemed to spur the Poles on, with Zdunek and Ewelina Kamczyk both having decent chances, but it remained 1-0 at the break.

Anderlecht came out with a renewed vigour in the second half, and van Kerkhoven had a decent opportunity just 90 seconds after the restart, but hooked her shot wide of the post after getting into a good position. A few minutes later, GKS really should have doubled their lead after a great run on the right hand side from Kamczyk. She played a wonderful ball into Weronika Zawistowska, on as a half time substitute, but the 18 year old spooned her effort way over the top. With 54 minutes gone, Wijnants again found herself in a great position after beating a couple of GKS defenders, but she saw a powerful strike well saved by Kowalska.

Anderlecht were seeing a lot of the ball in the second half, but maintained a lack of composure in the final third and were lacking the cutting edge they required to get back on level terms. GKS were looking dangerous on the counter attack, but also lacking a killer instinct, as shown on 64 minutes. Grabowska played an exellent ball into the box towards Matysik, but she took too long to get the ball under control and eventually had her shot blocked by Deneve.

The final twenty minutes saw Anderlecht try in vain to break down a stubborn GKS defence with no luck. Their best chances came from long range free kicks from Sheryl Merchiers, who’s delivery into the box really deserved better than the return she was getting. With three minutes to play, a Merchiers free kick found the head of van Kerkhoven. The initial header was cleared, but only as far as Vătafu, who struck a shot from around twelve yards that rattled the bar and was scrambled away by the GKS defence. It was as close as Anderlecht came to an equaliser, and the result leaves absolutely everything to play for in Monday’s closing matches in the group, with both of these teams and Glasgow City still able to finish top of the table.

The Pies

The four o’clock kick off time was too late for lunch and too early for dinner, so no pies were had today.

Admission: Free
Programme: None (free teamsheet available)
Pie: £2
Bovril: £1
Attendance: 95 (approx – including the Glasgow City players and coaches)