Waterloo Ducks – Racing : 3-2. All eyes were naturally turned to the Drève d’Argenteuil, this Sunday afternoon, to see if the Ucclois would manage to keep a slim hope of snatching a ticket for the playoffs. To do this, the calculations were simple. The victory was already mandatory against the Waterloo Ducks, last candidate, with Racing, for a place in the last square. But the Brabancons, who recovered Guillaume Van Marcke, but not their defender Maxime Van Oost (out until the end of the season), did not tremble in front of their supporters and they won a 13th success (3-2) which allows them to join Leopold, Dragons and Ghent who form a Top 4 that looks great. It was the French international, Blaise Rogeau, who was the first to strike in this match (19th). The exchanges were disputed but the local club kept, however, a certain control of the debates. And it was Gaëtan Dykmans who doubled the lead of his own at the beginning of the second period (37th).
Racing threw all its strength into the battle and withdrew its goalkeeper 9 minutes from the final whistle. And in the process, he got a stroke but Tanguy Cosyns’ attempt was stopped by Simon Vandenbroucke. It was not until the 65th minute that Achille De Chaffoy offered a glimmer of hope to the visitors to be able to stick to the score. But the hope was short-lived as Victor Charlet gave the Watducks a 2-point lead, on penalty, less than 120 seconds later. The goal of the young Liégeois, Samuel Malherbe, counted only for statistics. The reigning Belgian champions, bronze medallists at the EHL in Amstelveen, will therefore not participate in the playoffs this season. A failure for Racing who had to do better with the qualities of this group. But players can bite their fingers for having wasted so many points along the way and especially for not being able to display a more conquering state of mind during some of their outings and thus having wasted too many units throughout these last weeks. The figures for the month of April (1 point out of 12) are without appeal and weigh very heavily at the time of the final count.
Ghent – Leopold: 1-5. The people of Brussels seem really impregnable at the end of the championship. They proved it once again by taking an 18th victory against one of their title contenders. Against the Ghent, the proteges of Agustin Corradini have, once again, offered a solid and applied performance. It only took 2 minutes for the Leo to open the brand via Dylan Englebert. But Sean Murray was quick to equalize (8th) before missing a stroke. Tom Degroote restored the lead to his side (15th) before Tom Boon scored his 51st goal of the season (25th). Benjamin Thiery already put an end to any suspense in the exchanges before the break (27th). The last goal scored by Tom Degroote did not change much in a match that the Ghent did not manage to control due, certainly, to the injury of Antoine Kina, the master to play, at the beginning of the match.
Uccle Sport – Dragons: 1-4. After their surprise setback, last Sunday, at home, against Orée, the Antwerp did not have any real difficulties to dismiss the promoted ucclois. Nicolas Della Torre has, once again, shown that he is in good shape right now by offering himself a new double. His compatriot Lucas Martinez has also added his stone to the building as Thomas Crols. Juan Amoroso saved the honour for Sofie Gierts’ players.
Leuven still wants to believe
Leuven – Old Club : 3-1. While the battle for the playoffs has delivered its final verdict, the battle for retention has not yet delivered its judgment. And in Flemish Brabant, this duel between the last 2 in the standings was therefore decisive to stay in touch with Uccle Sport and Daring. In the end, it was the Academics who were the most realistic and scored 3 very important points with only 2 games left in this linear competition. François Sior had opened the scoring shortly after the quarter of an hour but it did not free the local club still under pressure against Liège obviously not ready to abdicate. In the 60th minute, Tom Dawance equalized on stroke but Pilou Maraite and François Sior did not allow the visitors to start hoping to bring back a precious point on the side of the Burning City. For the Old Club, nothing is yet decided mathematically but the mission promises to be practically impossible with matches against Waterloo Ducks and Ghent. For Leuven, on the other hand, hope is still present but it will be necessary to take points against the Dragons or the Braxgata.
Orée – Daring: 1-0. The Molenbeekois, who were rejected on Friday by the Licensing Commission but who should quickly regularize their file, hoped to bring back a little something from their short trip to Woluwe-Saint-Pierre but it was finally the local club that emerged in the 68th minute thanks to a goal from his Argentine international, Tomi Domene. A 14th setback that does not have too many consequences for the Daring who retains its 9th place in the standings, with 1 point ahead of Uccle Sport and 4 on Leuven. As expected, the duel against the promoted ucclois on the final day of the linear competition will be decisive.
