Theo Bongonda’s brace leads Onuachu’s Genk past St. Truiden

Theo Bongonda was Genk’s hero after scoring twice in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat of St. Truiden in a Belgian First Division A fixture.

Bongonda, 24, found the net on two occasions as unbeaten John van den Brom’s men cruised to their sixth win of the 2020-21 top-flight campaign.

Four minutes into the game, they took the lead through the winger of Congolese descent, who fired an angled shot past goalkeeper Daniel Schmidt following a corner kick from Japanese forward Junya Ito.

A few minutes later, Joakim Maehle was on course to double the visitors’ advantage but his effort was saved by Schmidt.

St. Truiden drew level in the 28th minute courtesy of Yuma Suzuki after being played in by Alexander Filippov. The visitors suffered a momentary setback as star player Dries Wouters was substituted for Kristian Thorstvedt due to an ankle injury.

A minute later, Bongonda completed his double with a sublime lob past the goalkeeper as the Canaries’ defenders were caught flatfooted.

The second half produced little spark owing to the scarcity of goals. Nigeria international Paul Onuachu was presented with a chance to hand his team a two-goal advantage in the 55th minute, but his header was saved by goalkeeper Schmidt.

Despite pouring attacks from Kevin Muscat’s side, who were reduced to 10 men following the expulsion of Steve De Ridder for a second caution, they were unable to produce a comeback as they lost their sixth game of the ongoing season.

While Bongonda saw all minutes of action, Onuachu saw 86 minutes before making way for Cote d’Ivoire’s Eboue Kouassi with Nigeria’s Cyriel Dessers an unused substitute.

For the hosts, Guinea's Ibrahima Sankhon was handed a starter's role but he was replaced in the 68th minute by Tatsuya Ito, while South Korea's Seung-Woo Lee came in for Samuel Asamoah with nine minutes left to play.

Morocco's Samy Mmaee, Guinea's Mory Konate and Angola's Jonathan Buatu were not listed for the derby.

Thanks to this result, Genk sit in third place with 22 points from 12 games, while St. Truiden occupy the 15th spot having garnered nine points with a game less.

Despite representing Belgium at U19 and U21 levels, Bongonda is eligible to represent Congo DR at senior level.