KSC Lokeren 1-0 Metalist Kharkiv

Nill de Pauw's second-half goal was enough to give Lokeren victory over Metalist Kharkiv in the battle between the bottom two sides in Europa League Group L.Both clubs were beaten in their opening fixtures, but Lokeren got their maiden group stage campaign up and running on Thursday night with a 1-0 victory at the Daknam stadium.Former Belgium Under-21 striker De Pauw settled an evenly-fought match with a fine curling shot in the 74th minute as Lokeren joined Trabzonspor on three points, three adrift of leaders Legia Warsaw.The first half saw last season's Belgian Cup winners and their Ukrainian visitors create several half-chances, but only rarely were the respective goalkeepers called into action.The closest either team came before the break was through Sergiy Bolbat, whose 34th-minute effort was snapped up by Lokeren keeper Boubacar Barry, and home forward Besart Abdurahimi, whose close-range shot on the stroke of half-time was saved by Vladimir Disljenkovic.Lokeren were indebted to Barry for keeping them level midway through the second half, though, with the Ivory Coast international doing well to tip over Cleiton Xavier's shot from the edge of the box.That was in the 67th minute and just seven minutes later the home side were celebrating what would prove to be the only goal of the game, De Pauw beating his man before curling his shot into the far bottom corner.Lokeren had a chance to extend their lead soon after, but Disljenkovic produced a superb parry to deny Abdurahimi. That kept Metalist in the game, but they could not find an equaliser during a stop-start finale to the match to remain without a point in Group L.ends