Khalid Ait Salah from FULL Hasselt in an archive image. — © Boumediene Belbachir
FUTSAL
Charleroi/Hasselt –
If FULL Hasselt is complete, it will remain difficult to beat. It proved this on Friday evening at the highly regarded FT Charleroi of Dahbi, Ghislandi and Rahou. In the end, Petros Papanicolaou’s team converted a 3-1 deficit into 3-3.
“I think it’s a good result,” said attacker Khalid Ait Salah, who returned from Eisden-Dorp this summer. “I thought both teams played well in a match with a lot of pace. When Ghislandi made it 3-1, we knew it was going to be difficult. On the other hand, it is not the first time that we have fallen behind. We started to press – without a flying goalkeeper – and in the end we succeeded. Our mentality is very good!” Hasselt did not lose in competition to FT Charleroi (two draws) and previously not to FT Antwerpen (two wins).
The always modest Ait Salah was vital with three goals. The ball-resistant pivot that doesn’t score very easily has already scored 16 competition goals. “Of course it’s always nice to score. It was my first hat-trick since my return. It keeps us in a nice second place in the rankings and ultimately that is the most important thing: to finish as high as possible as a team.” Finishing second or third – and not fourth – can be important to avoid sovereign Anderlecht until the final in the play-offs. Although that is still very premature.