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The Ghanaian midfielder scored his first career double when Marc Brys’s men silenced the Buffaloes on Saturday night.
Ghana’s Kamal Sowah scored his first double for his club and country after twice scoring the net in OH Leuven’s 3-2 win over Gent in the first Belgian outing on Saturday.
The midfielder scored each half as Marc Brys’s men condemned the Buffaloes to their fifth loss in the Jupiler League thus far.
In the disputed match at Ghelamco Arena, the hosts had their first scoring opportunity after Anderson Niangbo forced goalkeeper Rafael Romo to make a valiant save. A few minutes later, Toon Raemaekers blocked a close-range attempt by Gent’s Tim Kleindienst.
The hosts continued to put pressure on the visitors’ baseline as Milad Mohammadi’s shot kissed the wood. On the other hand, Leuven squandered his first clear chance after Mathieu Maertens lost ideas in the penalty area despite taking advantage of the attacking play from Xavier Mercier and Barnabas Bese.
Four minutes before the half-time break, Sowah threw the ball past goalkeeper Davy Roef after trading the ball with Mercier on a corner kick.
In the 42nd minute, Maertens doubled the visitors lead thanks to a good assist from Thomas Henry.
The 20-year-old completed his historic double in the 48th minute, beating Roef with Mercier again credited for assist.
Leuven suffered a setback in the 54th minute when Dylan Ouedraogo of Burkina Faso was replaced by Pierre-Yves Ngawa due to injury.
Twenty minutes from the end of regulation time, the Buffaloes received a penalty, as Bese was penalized for handling the ball in the goal area. Niklas Dorsch picked up the ball and converted the resulting kick.
Gent leveled from the penalty spot three minutes later via Kleindienst after Aboubakar Keita of Cote d’Ivoire fouled Osman Bukari of Ghana.
That blow gave Wim De Decker’s team a glimmer of hope, though they couldn’t get the much-needed draw when the game ended in favor of the visiting team.
After an impressive change, Sowah was replaced in the 75th minute by Oliver Myny, while Darren Keet of South Africa was an unused substitute.
With this result, Sowah’s team occupies the seventh position in the league after accumulating 11 points in seven games. They welcome Zulte Waregem to their next game on October 3.
