It will therefore be necessary to wait for the 22nd and last day of the championship in the Honor Division to know the names of the last 2 qualified for the semi-finals. One certainty, however, the Dragons, defending champion, will not play in the playoffs after their defeat against Gantoise.
Dragons – Ghent: 2-3.
The reigning champions had to win against the Gantoise to continue dreaming of a possible place in the Top 4. But the Flanders also needed the 3 goals to keep their 4th place in the general classification at the end of this 21st and the penultimate day of the championship in the Division d’honneur. The start of the debates was pleasant and the two teams showed their intentions to take the initiative. But it was finally in the 52nd minute that Henri Raes took over a perfect cross from Simon Gougnard to put the Antwerpers in command of the game. And 60 seconds later, the home fans could exult when Nicolas Della Torre doubled his lead on stroke. But as usual, the Dragons, deprived like last Sunday of Florent van Aubel (concussion), lacked rigor.
A free hit quickly played by Antoine Kina was subtly deflected by Guillaume Hellin into the back of the net. In the 57th minute, on the 7th visitor penalty, the Ghent captain, Antoine Kina, even equalized deservedly. And 3 minutes later, Martin Ferreiro went on the counter-attack and offered the victory to the Flandriens (2-3). A 9th defeat which puts an end to the hopes of qualification for the Antwerp playoffs. A first since 2009! La Gantoise, for its part, retains fourth place in the standings and will have to win, at Racing, in 15 days, to validate its ticket for the semi-finals.
Leopold – Antwerp: 5-1.
To keep their first place in the standings and above all pocket the first EHL ticket for next season, the people of Brussels, who were celebrating the return of Romain Henet in goal, had to take the 3 points against Antwerp, one of the 2 descendants, deprived of 4 of its injured executives (Nicholas Budgeon, Taine Paton and the brothers, Niels and Pieter Van Straaten). But it was in the second half that the Ucclois managed to break with goals from Tom Boon (39th, 58th and 61st), Gaspard Baumgarten (49th) and Arthur Verdussen (56th). Milan Van Baal saved the honor for the visitors 7 minutes from the end of the debates. The duel against the Dragons, during the final day of the championship, will therefore be essential to win the European ticket.
Racing gets into trouble
Oree – Waterloo Ducks: 1-3.
The Brabançons are the second qualified for the semi-finals after Leo thanks to this 11th success of the season. But it was in the second half that the visitors managed to gain the upper hand over the people of Brussels who are still not sure of avoiding the place of play-off. Émile Esquelin was the first to deceive the vigilance of David Van Rysselberghe who officiated, again, in Oréen goals. But 10 minutes later, Max Branicki equalized. The joy was however short-lived since on the throw-in, Victor Charlet scored the number 2 visitor, from the penalty spot. And in the 68th minute, William Ghislain set the final score. Next week, the Watducks will play the EHL ranking tournament, in Egara, with a first duel scheduled for Friday, against the Scots of Grange.
Daring-Racing: 3-3.
The Ucclois hoped to secure their place in the Top 4 when they came to Molenbeek land but they will have to fight a duel at the top in 15 days, at home, against Gantoise, to validate their participation in the semi-finals. Everything had however started well for the visitors who took the lead via Achille De Chaffoy. But the Daring, which intends to avoid the place of play-offs, reacted via Xavier Esmenjaud, on a rebound from pc Cédric Charlier restored the advantage to Racing (21st) but Esmenjaud equalized, again, on a penalty rebound. After the break, Diego Lucaccioni scored number 3 but there was no question of Daring giving up despite dominating the visitors and several good goal opportunities. But at the very last second, the French striker scored the hat-trick and gave his team a good point. Racing will clearly no longer have the right to make mistakes on the last day.
Beerschot will accompany Antwerp in Division 1
Braxgata-Beerschot: 3-2.
The duel between the Antwerp neighbors turned to the advantage of the Boomois who are therefore still in the race, on the lookout for a semi-finalist place. On the other hand for the Bee, this 12th defeat propels them to Division 1. However, we had not yet played for 1 minute when Louis Capelle deflowered the score. In the second half, Loïck Luypaert equalized on the 7th local penalty before giving the lead to his team, again on pc Harrisson Peeters took advantage of the numerical superiority of the visitors to put the 2 teams tied (54th). But the Brax regained the advantage in the next minute and offered the possibility of continuing to dream.
Herakles – Leuven: 1-1.
While a week ago, the Universitaires were in an ideal position to claim a place in the last four, after their split against Leopold, they destroyed their last hopes in 2 games. Friday night’s defeat against Braxgata combined with a new split against Lierrois dropped them to 6th place, 4 units from the Top 4. This Sunday, Amaury Keusters had opened the scoring for the locals (47th) before Pau Quemada equalize in the 60th minute.
The return of the Old Club and Uccle Sport to the Division d’honneur
They had been waiting for this since 2012. The Ucclois will return to the Elite next season after beating Namur (4-2) in the return leg of the semi-finals in D1. Like last Sunday (2-4), Uccle Sport evolved a notch above its opponent of the day by offering another good performance crowned by 4 goals (Simon Houbart, Mathieu Latte, Thibault Cornilie and Mallory Magnant) in front of more than 600 supporters already impatient to find the DH. In the other meeting, the Old Club did not hesitate against Mechelen to ensure their return to the highest level after a season in D1. Beaten 2-1 in the first round, they were effective and solid to win this match (5-1 with goals from Thomas Keenan, Pierre De Moor (2), Gauthier Marchandisse and Aymeric Maréchal). The 2 clubs will now face each other
By Laurent Toussaint