Wed Feb 01, 2012 at 23:17 (Sander Valcke)

• Defeated by Standard

  Cercle Brugge was unable to keep the three points at home in Saturday's game. After a game with scarce chances Standard won with the smallest difference: 0-1.

  The Green-Blacks started off very well, with an attempt on goal by Gregory Mertens in the opening minutes of the game. Unfortunately this was the only real chance for Cercle in that first half. The same went for Standard, which was only able to force Jo Coppens to act once on a header by Gakpé.

  The second half started with a goal by Standard, pass to Batschuayi by Gakpé, he puts the ball past Coppens: 0-1. Cercle tried to put on some pressure but there were too much irregularities in their game, preventing fast combinations which were needed to dislocate the Standard defense. Standard on the other hand was happy with the small lead, only trying to increase it with some well-timed counters, forcing Jo Coppens to a solid save.

  To make matters even worse Nuno Reis was carried off the pitch with an ankle injury. Fortunately it is not broken, only sprained, but this still means an absence of about six weeks.

  This defeat means that Cercle is starting to drift away from being able to reach play-off 1, if the next couple of matches don't end in victories then those ambitions will have to be put away until next year.