Ghana’s Kamal Sowah scored his first-ever brace for club and country after finding the net twice in OH Leuven’s 3-2 victory over Gent in Saturday’s Belgian top-flight outing.
The midfielder scored in each half as Marc Brys’ men condemned the Buffalos to their fifth defeat in the Jupiler League so far.
In the keenly contested affair at the Ghelamco Arena, the hosts got the first chance at goal after Anderson Niangbo forced goalkeeper Rafael Romo to make a brave save.
A few minutes later, Toon Raemaekers blocked a close-range attempt from Gent’s Tim Kleindienst.
The hosts continued to mount pressure on the visitors’ backline as Milad Mohammadi’s shot kissed the wood work.
On the other side, Leuven fluffed their first clear opportunity after Mathieu Maertens was lost for ideas in the penalty area despite profiting from Xavier Mercier and Barnabas Bese’s attacking move.
Four minutes before the half-time break, Sowah blasted the ball past goalkeeper Davy Roef after exchanging passes with Mercier from a corner-kick.
In the 42nd minute, Maertens doubled the visitors’ lead thanks to a fine assist from Thomas Henry.
The 20-year-old completed his historic double in the 48th minute – slotting past Roef with Mercier again credited for the assist.
Leuven suffered a setback in the 54th minute as Burkina Faso's Dylan Ouedraogo was replaced by Pierre-Yves Ngawa due to injury.
Twenty minutes from full-time, the Buffalos were awarded a penalty as Bese was punished for handling the ball in the goal area. Niklas Dorsch picked up the ball and converted the resulting kick.
Gent levelled matters from the penalty spot three minutes later through Kleindienst after Cote d’Ivoire’s Aboubakar Keita had fouled Ghana’s Osman Bukari.
That strike gave Wim De Decker’s side a glimmer of hope, albeit, they were unable to get the much-needed equaliser as the game ended in favour of the visiting team.
After an impressive shift, Sowah was replaced in the 75th minute by Oliver Myny, while South Africa’s Darren Keet was an unused substitute.
With this result, Sowah's team occupy the seventh position in the league after accruing 11 points from seven games. They welcome Zulte Waregem in their next game on October 3.
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