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FORMER Dynamos striker Bill Antonio capped a good week with the opening goal as mid-table KV Mechelen beat bot-tom-placed Kortrijk 3-0 in the Belgian Pro League on Saturday. 

Antonio lined up with Zimbabwean defender Munashe Garananga as they notched a third win in their last five games to move to 39 points from 27 games, 23 points behind leaders Union Saint-Gilloise and 18 above Kortrijk with three matches of the regular season remaining. 

Saturday’s heroics came a day after Antonio signed a new contract at KV Mechelen until 2027 with an option for an extra year.

The 21-year-old Antonio joined Mechelen’s developmental side in 2022 and has been rewarded with a new deal after he secured a first-team jersey through outstanding performances over the past months. 

Bill Antonio scored the opener in a comfortable 3-0 win for Belgian First Division side, Mechelen on Saturday.

KV Mechelen’s sporting director Tim Matthys said the club was happy with Antonio’s progress and hence the decision to upgrade his stay at the club. 

“Bill still had an option in his contract that would allow him to stay with us for another 2 years, but that is not how we operate as a club. 

“Bill has developed fantastically and is now showing what we had in mind for him. We can only be happy about that, and we want to reward him for that.” 

HADEBE MAKES WINNING DEBUT

Warriors defender Teenage Hadebe made a winning return to Turkish football as he featured in relegation-threatened Konyaspor’s 2-0 win at home over Hatay on Saturday. 

Hadebe, who joined Konyaspor on a short-term contract after leaving the US Major League, was given a third-best rating of 7.1 out of 10 as they moved to 18th on the 20-team league standings with 28 points from 27 matches. 

Teams from position 17 to 20 are relegated at the end of the season and there are still 11 more rounds of matches to be played before the season ends.

Hadebe’s Konyaspor are just five points from 11th-placed Samsunpor.

KADEWERE’S NANTES IN 

CRUCIAL WIN

In the French Ligue 1, Warriors striker Tino Kadewere was a second-half substitute as Nantes won 1-0 at Lorient to move three points clear of the relegation slot on Saturday. 

Victory moved Nantes into 12th place with 25 points from 23 games, three points ahead of their victims who occupy the final relegation slot with 22 points from 23 matches. It was only their second win in the last matches. Kadewere’s former team Olympique Lyon occupies 10th place with 28 points from 23 matches after an impressive run of four consecutive wins in his absence. 

MISERY FOR ZEMURA’S UDINESE

Warriors left-back Jordan Zemura’s Italian Serie A side, Udinese suffered a 2-0 defeat at Genoa to stay just three points above the relegation slot on Saturday. 

Udinese finished with 10 men following a 49th minute red card to T Kristensen and they now have a poor run of one win, two draws, and two defeats in their last five matches. They are occupying 15th place in the 20-team league with 23 points from 26 matches and have another 12 matches to try and secure survival. 

DZVUKAMANJA’S SUPERSPORT HELD

Warriors striker Terrence Dzvukamanja was a second-half substitute as SuperSport United were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Morden Future in a CAF Confederation Cup group match yesterday. With the draw, SuperSport United can no longer progress to the next round as they are four points behind Morden Future with just one round of matches remaining. In a game SuperSport needed to win to take qualification for the next round into the final round of matches, they had to scramble a point via a 69th-minute equaliser.