Team: Eysartier / Lambrecht, Bernardo, McGrath, Hodgson / McGeehan, Deroeck / Lamarra, Legere, Cardona / Kellerman

The squad turned up at fortress Rosieres itching to get the new season underway. Captain McGrath went through the starting line-up which included an RBBFC 1st XI debut for goalkeeper Romain.

The game started on the front foot for RBBFC who pinned their newly promoted opponents back into their own half. The front 4 were causing trouble early on. A thunderous early effort from Cardona was blocked followed by a free kick which the same player dragged wide.

An early penalty shout was denied when the ref instead awarded a free-kick on the edge of the area after Kellermann was flattened by the Auderghem keeper. Dubious decision and sadly the free kick came to nothing. + The best effort of the half came when Kellermann found himself in space down the left and floated a calculated ball into the second post where Hodgson hit a first time volley back across goal only for it to agonisingly hit the inside of the post and bounce straight back into the keepers arms. 0-0 at the break.

The second half started much the same was as the first ended. RBBFC were essentially camped out in the Auderghem half but the big, tall visiting defenders were dealing with most of the aerial threat thrown at them.

A dangerous free kick was awarded on the edge of the Auderghem box midway through the second half. Their keeper got down extremely well with a strong hand to keep McGraths sweetly struck effort out.

With time running down anything other than a victory would have been unfair. McGrath pushed further forward with RBBFC throwing everything at the opposition whose only efforts to deny Romain a clean sheet on his debut were rare counter attacks which failed to materialise to any genuine danger.

The breakthrough finally came with 5 mins to go. Kellermann using his pace and intelligent movement to get in front of his man and coax the defender into a reckless challenge inside the opposition box. The ref was well placed and awarded the spot kick. Hodgson tucked it away. 1-0. Relief.

The final 5 mins were inevitable a little nervy but RBBFC held out comfortable for a deserved win. The score line doesn’t quite reflect the dominance RBBFC had but, having failed to win their first fixture of the season for the previous 4 years, a win a cleansheet and many beers in the sunshine afterwards made for a good start to the new season.

Reporter & MOM: Hodgson