Plennevaux and Boon inspire Léo to slay Dragons

Royal Léopold got the second phase of the Belgian season up and running with a hugely important 4-3 win over KHC Dragons. 

In the reconstituted table, it sees them close the gap in Group A to leader La Gantoise and maintains the four-point gap to third place Racing Club de Bruxelles. 

Léo landed the win despite the absence of the injured Tanguy Zimmer and Dylan Englebert. They took the lead in the 27th minute when star forwards Tom Boon and Max Plennevaux combined with the latter scoring. 

Boon added the next two goals for a 3-0 lead before Florent van Aubel and Felix Denayer, from the penalty spot, cut the gap to 3-2.  

But Léo were out of range when Plennevaux got his second and while van Aubel did pull back another, it was too late. 

Reflecting on the tie, coach Robin Geens was satisfied with the result but perhaps not the performance, telling Le Soir: “Dragons had to win and therefore put more energy than us into this duel. I admit that it is not normal, when you are leading 3-0 up, to be afraid at the end of the game but that was the case. We have a good team but our midfield has yet to gain confidence.” 

La Gantoise, meanwhile, fell 2-1 to Racing with Conor Harte and Alexis Cayphas getting the crucial goals. It was the former’s first loss of the season and leaves them on 19 points in the round-robin stage with Léo on 16 and Racing on 12 with Dragons on 11. 

In Group B, Waterloo Ducks saw off KHC Leuven 4-3 to extend their lead at the head of the pool. They are on 19 points with Orée on 16 following a 4-4 draw with Beerschot. Leuven and the Bees are both on 11.