Sildegapet kicked off their campaign to defend their title as Europa League Champions with a home game with Gent United. Britton, having decided against playing a weakened side, fielded his strongest possible side. However, it still took Sildegapet 9 minutes for their first shot on target, Annibale Bramati hitting the woodwork. The 0-0 deadlock was to last until the 21st minute, until Lenci Laijtos took a shot from outside the box as the defenders backed off. His curling effort found the back of the net and set the home fans off. After 20 minutes of good defending, Gent began to fall apart, and just two minutes later, Laijtos became the provider of the second goal as he broke free in the midfield. A brilliant turn from Bramati found himself with an open goal that he refused not to take, triumphantly smashing in a second goal. Ten minutes later, and things went from bad to worse for the Dutch side, as Bramati scored a superb solo goal that saw him run from one end of the pitch to the other before curling the ball in for his second goal of the evening. Just 5 minutes later, Bramati finally got his hattrick after his stunning turn left two defenders dazed. Gent’s half time talk obviously hadsome effect as they prevented any goals being scored until the 76th minute when Lenci Laijtos scored the second of his evening. The only notable effort before that was Bramati’s shot that was saved. From the resulting goal kick, Lenci Laijtos managed to get past the whole Gent side before his sizzling effort from well outside the box found the top right had corner. The misery was piled on in the 82nd minute as Jonathan Maccarron finally got on the goal count. However, in the lead up to the goal came two remarkable events. With just 8 minutes left on the clock, Laijtos ran into the boxand had a chance to finally get his hattrick. However, he unselfishly pulled the ball back for Bramati. In a controversial moment, he missed the easiest chance he had all evening, missing from just six yards, although he felt he should have had a penalty awarded when he received a tug on the shirt from Aralan Heyder. However, he made up for his miss just seconds later by creating Maccarron’s first goal. In the 87th minute Bramati made up for his earlier miss by converting Milan Rak’s free kick to polish off a very pleasing display. Laijtos walked off with the match ball.

After wards Britton praised the team sayingI don’t think it is a game Gent will forget in a hurry. We were the better side and the result showed it. They fought but Bramati and Laijtos were superb. We have shown that we are real contenders for this title. We really look like a team that have bonded well and will play well together. Our recent matches also show that this is not just a one off victory. We have beaten Vestbjerg Super Team 5-0, Crewe Rovers AFC 5-1, Lotus Ranger’s 5-0, Bachstar 4-1 and we beat Lunberg 4-0. After our early sloppy form, we have changed. We have a new strike and that should help, we know from the Italian leagues what damage Elhaam Kaader can do.