Lierse dominated the whole game but could not create a lot of real chances. Lierse took two times the lead, but Hoogstraten could equalize two times very fast. The red-whites had a lot of old acquaintances in the team. Exl-Lierseplayer and assistant-coach Frank Braeckmans is now headcoach of Hoogstraten and ex-Lierseplayers Karel Snoeckx and Tim De Keyser are part of the team from the third division 3B. Also a couple of ex-Lierse youth players are part of their A-selection: Ief Van Gansen, Tom Kermans, Toon Glassée en Niels Cox.

Highlights:
3’: Chaotic start, probably because of the tropic temperatures.
5’: Nkuman with the head beside
10’:  Free kick from De Keyser beside
13’ Wahed free kick, no problem for keeper Vermeiren
25’ Nice preparing work from Lierse, Tshiala had to centre in staed of shooting wildly at goal.
30’: Snoeckx with a dangerous tackle, the free kick from Janssens ends in the wall.
32’: Nice rush of Samir with a nice centre, but a Hoogstratendefender puts his head in between.
34’: Cavens nice to Nkuman, but the centre is has also this time no result
35’: Wahed to Cavens who puts the ball beside with his head
37’: Buyens recovers the ball and sends Cavens away. The ball is badly removed, Wahed sees a shootingchance and shoots with his right foot below in the righthandcorner. 0 – 1 for Lierse;
40’: Buyens touches the ball with his hand and penalty for Hoogstraten. De Keyser scores: 1-1.
44’ Fockaert shoots at the fistst of Van der Jeugt.

51’ Nikolic goes on speed and a good centre follows, Nkuman is just a bit too late to score.
55’: Nkuman comes alone for the goal but his lob is to weak.
70’:Rimkus to Nkuman, but the keepers takes stops.
71’ Goris boxes a ball away.
75’: Opportunist Nikolic recovers the ball at the righthand side and stays cool. He passes the ball to Rimkus, who’s not covered and Rimkus scores simply. 1-2 for Lierse.
85’: Hoogstraten equalizes from their only real chance: Bob Zwaegers shoots in the righthandcorner.

Team K Lierse SK: Vanderjeugt (’46 Goris), De Witte, Janssens (’46 Frans), Dreesen, Buysens (’46 Nikolic), Cavens (’46 Nedzipi), Samir, De Graef (’46 Bojovic), Nkuman (’73 Weuts), Wahed (’46 Rimkus), Tshiala
Goals:  37’ Wahed (0-1), 40’ Tim De Keyser (pen) (1-1), 75’ Rimkus (1-2), 85’ Bob Zwaegers (2-2)

On Tuesday, Peter Utaka visited Lierse together with his manager, to explain his situation at Lierse. Utaka wants to get his freedom as player and hopes that he gets certainty hereabout before Friday from the KBVB, the Belgian Football Federation.

After a running session on Tuesdaymorning, there was in the afternoon a practise on the pitch in Bevel. The accent was this time put on combination and teamplay. First there was a handballexercise, afterwards with the ball at the foot. Sometimes it was
very lively. The fotoreport you can find here.

The injured players report: Dreesen, Rimkus and Samir could practise on full strength. Also for Tshiala and Wahed there was positive news, the result of their examination seemed good. Wahed got a little tap during the practise, but could finish the training. For the moment there is no result from the scan of Sherif el Bialy. Meyers and De Corte still had troubles with their ankle and didn’t practise. Mertens has a inflammation on the attachment of the adductors. Bob Peeters still practises individual. Ventose was absent because he will play this evening with the U19 in Schriek. He seems to be relaesed from his injury.

Plan for the next days:
Wednesday 19h30: match Hoogstraten –Lierse
Thursday 10h: Fitness
Thursday: 14h30: Field practise Bevel
Friday10h: running practise pitch ‘De Mol’ Lier
Saturday 10h: Field practise Bevel
Sunday 17h: match Lierse-Dender (field FC De Kempen in Tielen)

After 3 weeks of preparation and 3 friendly games we can draw up already a little balance.

Against Pulle, at our national holiday, the fact the people talked most about was the weather. It rained cats and dogs and because of this, everybody became soaking wet. Nevertheless there were a lot of fans. Fantastic! Pulle defended with everything they had and our boys showed a lot of willingness tot score a lot of goals and this scoring happened.

At Wednesday against Pulderbos, the opponent was a bit better. The difference in the result was because of the poor finishing. This has a lot to do with the interval training in the afternoon at 13.30 at the track in Lier. Also the local goalkeeper was very good. At the end of the game we were even with 9 players, because Buyens and Tshiala got injured and had to leave the field.

Against our fellow townsmen Lyra, it became for the first time a real game. We fell behind early in the game after a misunderstanding in our defence. But we stayed calm and after 15 minutes, the score was already 1-2 after goals of Bojovic and Buyens. Lyra had to restrict itself tot the counterattack and we had enough chances to decide the game. After an hour, Buyens received the reward for his pressing and he gave Cavens the ball for the 1-3. Five minutes before the end of the game, Lyra took advantage of a misjudgement of keeper Van der Jeugt.

With still 2,5 weeks before the start of the competition, we are content about the effort and the physical condition. Now we can concentrate more on the football technical and tactical trainings. Especially when we loose the ball, we have to become harder in the duels. No gentleman football, but fighting for every square metre is the message. Also the set up has to be better, we still loose to many balls on the own half. Every player must make not only make oneself better, but also his teammates. Everybody has to give every game his best. When the intensity of the practicing will decrease, the sharpness in the attack will return and the chances will be (hopefully) finished better.

Now we have 4 games in 8 days. Hoogstraten, Dender, Turnhout and especially Getafe are our general repetition for the new born Exqi-league. Hopefully, we can recover some injured players for these games. Then everybody can show that he’s ready to make of this season a beautiful one.

One for all and all for one.

Until two weeks, Eric Van Meir

Lierse won the local derby at Lyra 2-3 this evening. This was despite a sluggish start, highlighted by a misunderstanding between Bojovic and keeper Goris which allowed Lyra’s Koen Weuts to make it 1-0 after only 3 minutes.
Lierse than came into the game more, and after Nedzipi was fouled on the edge of the box after 15 mins, Bojovic drilled home the free kick: 1-1. Two minutes later Buyens cut in from the left-hand side of the box, and beat the keeper at the far post: 1-2. A serious looking injury to a Lyra player which led to a lengthy stoppage rather dampened the flow of
the game for the rest of the first half. The break arriving without any further goals.

In the second half Lierse took more of a grip on the game, without creating too many clear cut chances.
Bojovic’s glancing header against the post was followed by Wahed shooting against the keepers legs. On 67 minutes, a dreadful back pass to the Lyra keeper allowed Buyens to feed Cavens: 1-3.
There followed some half-chances for Lierse, but with the game seemingly won, the game drifted somewhat until a mistake by Van der Jeugt allowed Lyra back into the match five minutes from time: 2-3. Van der Jeugt made amends with a good save just afterwards, and Lierse held on to win the Lier derby.

Lierse: Goris (Van der Jeugt 46′), Bojovic, De Corte, De Witte (Weuts 65′), Frans, De Graef, Buyens, Janssens (Dreesen 46′), Rimkus (Wahed 46′), Nedzipi, Nikolic (Cavens 46′)

Tonight Lierse play their third pre-season friendly at town rivals Lyra. Kick-off is at 19.30. The match will be preceded by a match between 2 teams made up of ex-players from both clubs.
For Lierse the following players will be absent through injury: Dreesen (knee), El Bialy (knee), Mertens (adductors), Nwanhu (knee), Peeters (achilles), Samir (knee), Tshiala (calf) and Ventose (knee).
The 18-man selection:
Bojovic Petar, Buyens Yoni, Cavens Jurgen, De Corte Thomas, De Graef Garry, De Witte Seth, Frans Frederik, Goris Nathan, Janssens Chris, Meyers Christopher, Nedzipi Nderim, Nikolic Stefan, Rimkus Lorenzo, Van den Brande Lars, Van der Jeugt Sven, Van der Veken Jef, Wahed Abdel Mo and Weuts Koen

On Thursday evening, the Lierse reserves lost away to 4th division KVV Verbroereding Maasmechelen. The very young Lierse reserve team lost 2-1
to the team who play in the same division as Lyra. An undeserved defeat, as football wise, our reserves were certainly a match for the hosts. Nkuman scored for Lierse. Nkuman had appeared a day earlier as a substitute with the First team at Pulderbos.

Highlights:
2′ Nkuman played himself into a good position but shot just wide.
12′ 1-0: Penalty for the home team after a foul on Rutten, who was definitely offside.
18′ 1-1: Nkuman equalised after a nice individual piece of play.
20′ Chance for Nkuman
25′ Chance for Stovanovic
51′ Chances for Erdekli and Janssens
70′ First chance of the 2nd half for the home team
71′ 2-1: Home team profit from a misunderstanding in the Lierse midfield

KVV Verbr Maasmechelen:
ORLANDO, RUTTEN, VANDERHALLEN, LOONTJENS, GEERINCKX, GERAERTS, TEELEN, VRANKEN, SLECHTEN, SMITS, SARLI

K. LIERSE SK.:
SELS, HAAGEN (46′ DE SWERT), BRAWERS, VAN DEN BRANDE, PERSYN, VAN DER VEKEN (58′ SEELS), STEVANOVIC (46′ SYMONS),
DE CONINCK (54′ CAPA), NKUMAN (46′ ERDEKLI), SHALABY (46′ JANSSENS), MULOP.

GOALS:
12’ Smits 1-0 (pen)
18’ NKUMAN 1-1
71’ Blokken 2-1

Lierse won their second pre-season match this evening away to 3rd division
provincial side Pulderbos 0-5. There was again a large Lierse following
(around 1000).
In the afternoon there had been an intensive running traing session. So it was maybe expected that there would not be the goal feast seen two days earlier at Pulle.This was mainly due to the Pulderbos goalkeeper. Lierse scored the first goal very quickly. It was 0-2 at halftime. After the break Lierse ran the score up to 0-5. Lierse played the last 15 minutes with 9 men after Tshiala and Buyens were injured.

There have also been some changes made to the training schedule:
Thursday 10.00: Fitness
Friday 10.00: Bevel, 2 groups/ 1 tactical training (defenders and midfielders),
1 strikers training

Match Summary:

3′ 0-1: Cavens scored from an assist from De Graef
5′ Nikolic shot wide
6′ Cavens crosses for Tshiala, Nikolic reaches it, but again wide
11′ Langmans flagged for offside
12′ Cavens shoots into the arms of the keeper
15′ Cavens steers the ball into path of Nikolic, who shoots wide
16′ After a foul on Tshiala, Nedzipi takes the free kick, Frans just unable
to get to the ball
21′ Nezipi with a corner, but comes to nothing
22′ After a nice play from Nedzipi, Tshiala is flagged for offside
23′ Tshiala interplays with Cavens: corner
24′ 0-2: Nedzipi takes the corner, and Nikolic scores with his knee
26′ Tshiala to Nedzipi, but the ball is underhit, and again a corner
35′ Nedzipi blocked by the keeper, corner results.
36′ De Corte to Nikolic, keeper beaten, but a defender clears the ball from the line
44′ Cavens shoots at the keeper

45′ De Witte heads wide
48′ Tshiala sets up Nkuman, who shoots wide
50′ Janssens to Tshiala, but he heads wide
51′ Cavens wrongly flagged offside
52′ Tshiala to Bojovic who heads wide
54′ Bojovic finds Nkuman who hits the underside of the bar. Ball doesn’t cross the goalline
56′ Cavens heads wide
58′ Nkuman finds himself free, but shoots over
64′ 0-3: Nkuman sets uo Bojovic, who scores via the post
65′ Buyens alone in front of goal, but he misses
66′ Tshiala leaves the field with a calf injury, Lierse play on with 10 men
68′ 0-4: After an individual run from Nkuman, he lays the ball off to Cavens,
who scores
69′ Janssens header, corner results
70′ Cavens sets up Buyens, but keeper forces a corner
74′ Langmans shoots wide
81′ Pulderbos keeper substituted to general applause
83′ 0-5: Meyers scores, Buyens leaves the field as a precaution. Lierse play on with 9 men
86′ The home team hit the post, although from an offside position
87′ Janssens clears the ball from the line

Teams:
Lierse (1st Half):
Van der Jeugt, Bojovic, De Corte, Tshiala, Buyens, De Witte, Cavens, Nikolic,
Frans, Nedzipi, De Graef
Lierse (2nd half):
Goris, Bojovic, De Corte, Tshiala, Buyens, Cavens, Frans, Wuyts, Meyers,
Janssens, Nkuman

Pulderbos:
Van Looy (83’ Bastiaens), Janssens, Hofmans (50’ Van Gansen), Vercammen,
Pittoors, Geentjens (804 Goedene), Vanderstappen, Buck, Vervaecke (80’ Stoop),
Langmans, Moens (Meukers).

Julien Thsiala, one of Lierses new signings this season, had to leave the pitch
early this evening with a calf injury during the 0-5 win over Pulderbos.
The seriousness of the injury will only be known tomorrow. Also Yoni Buyens
had a shortened appearance, but his exit was precautionary only.

The following players were not in action at Pulderbos, and are suffering from
previous slight (except Eraly and Peeters) injuries:

- Timothy Dreesen: underwent today a knee x-ray, result in next couple of days.

- Lorenzo Rimkus: resumed running today, but still suffering effects of slight
knock.

- Dries Ventose: had a scan today on his knee

- Bob Peeters: will have individual training tomorrow with the kinesist

- Samir and Wahed: both suffering with slight injuries, have to rest until
 Friday

- Sherif el Bialy: contusion on the knee, has to rest until Friday

- Jitram Eraly: the young U-19 keeper suffered a tear in the groin, and will
be out for several weeks
 

Lierse play their second pre-season friendly this evening at 3rd division Provincial side Pulderbos (address:Mastenbaan, 2242 Pulderbos). The match kicks off at 19.00.
Peeters, Dreesen, Wahed and Rimkus will all be absent through injury. This afternoon there will be a training session at the athletics track De Mol.

The schedule for the next few days:
Wednesday 13.30: Running training at De Mol
Wednesday 19.00: Pulderbos-Lierse
Thursday 10.00 : Fitness session
Thursday 14.30: Training at Bevel
Friday 10.00: Cross country run
Friday 14.30: Bevel, 2 group, 1 tactical training (defenders & midfielders), 1 strikers training