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Leaders Anderlecht dropped their first league points of the season in a 1-1 draw at home to champions Club Bruges in the first division on Sunday.
Anderlecht's lead at the top has been cut by two points to five after Racing Genk moved up to second place with 17 points after a 3-1 home win with 10 men over lowly Lokeren on Saturday.
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Bruges slipped to third place with 15 points but at least managed to peg back
the runaway leaders and keep the title race on the boil as Anderlecht threatened
to kill off their rivals. Ticketmaster
Anderlecht took the lead just before the half-hour mark thanks to a goal from Aruna Dindane, but eight minutes from time Andres Mendoza grabbed the equaliser to silence the home fans.
Anderlecht coach Hugo Broos made only one change from the team that drew 1-1 at home to Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday with experienced defender Glen De Boeck replacing suspended Finnish international Hannu Tihinen.
Bruges coach Trond Sollied recalled veteran 40-year-old goalkeeper Dany Verlinden in place of Croatian Tomislav Butina with Timmy Simons coming into the centre of the defence. Ticketmaster
Anderlecht opened the scoring through Dindane in the 28th minute as they piled on the pressure in the first half and forced Verlinden to make some excellent saves.
But they could not keep up the pace and Bruges, who were starting to look more dangerous, created a couple of chances before Broos made some changes that helped turn the match.
DEFENSIVE APPROACH
On 71 minutes he replaced Croatia forward Ivica Mornar, the goalscorer against Bayern, with midfielder Pär Zetterberg and brought on defender Olivier Doll for midfielder Marc Hendrikx. Ticketmaster
Anderlecht's more defensive approach was their undoing as Bruges took the game to them and 11 minutes later Andres Mendoza won a duel against De Boeck to level the scores at 1-1.
Standard Liège ended a run of three defeats with a thumping 4-0 victory at Royal Antwerp that moved them up two places to sixth in the table thanks to an impressive performance from Portuguese midfielder Almani Moreira.
Emile Mpenza scored his first goal for the club after 15 minutes as he outsprinted the defence and latched on to a pass from Alexandros Kaklamanos.
The Greek headed the second goal himself just before halftime after meeting a fine cross from former Abderdeen midfielder Roberto Bisconti. Ticketmaster
Antwerp tried to rally after the break but could not get back into the game and Aliyu Datti, who replaced Kaklamanos 15 minutes from time, scored in the 89th and 90th minutes.
"We changed our team a little, putting Bisconti and Gonzalo Sorondo into midfield, and that helped our balance," said Standard's sports director Michel Preud'homme.
"But we were very positive after all the work we did with the players to solve what seemed to be the start of a mental problem after our three losses".
RESOUNDING WIN
On Saturday, Genk had to play bottom club Lokeren with only 10 men for 80 minutes after goalkeeper Jan Moons was dismissed for handling the ball outside his area.
However, that did not stop them carving out a resounding victory that leaves the visitors with only two points after conceding 18 goals in eight league games this season.
Bernd Thijs (35), Theo Janssen (79) and Cedric Roussel (87) were on the scoresheet for Genk, but striker Roussel contributed much more with his excellent passing and positioning.
Mons-Bergen's new Italian coach Sergio Brio, now 47 but once a defender at Juventus, got off to a good start with a 1-1 draw in the Hainaut provincial derby against La Louvière.
Brio told his side to give counter-attacking specialists La Louvière plenty of space and thereby ruined their game plan.
Veteran Frédéric Tilmant put the home side ahead with a penalty two minutes after the break but Emmanuel Kenmogne got the equaliser for Mons on 76 minutes.
In Beveren, Charleroi's French goalkeeper Bertrand Lacquait kept the visitors in the game but a last-minute penalty for a foul by Loris Reina on Moussa Sanogo gave Gilles Yapi Yapo the chance to score the winner and he converted for the home side.