Oostende started the season still high on the success of securing European football and motivated to progress further on the back of some eye-catching signings like Richairo Zivkovic and Nicolas Lombaerts. However, a shock loss to a poor side like Mouscron at the start of the season seemed to hit the Kustboys hard and they never managed to properly find their stride and reach the level that put them into the top six last season. Yves Vanderheighe was left bemused by some poor showings and the lack of efficiency of a supposedly strong and deep squad like the one that Oostende have. Poor results piled on and with that the lack of trust among the players showed up as well.
Oostende needed six games to record their first points and it already seemed like Vanderhaeghe was on a borrowed time as he was just making one poor decision after the other and it was exacerbating the problems. He was let go in late September and his assistant Adnan Custovic took charge for the rest of the season. He actually hit the ground running and a run of four wins and a draw in five games between late October and mid-November quickly catapulted the team into mid-table.
The shift to three at the back worked for the Kustboys as they became more assured and effective on the counter. The momentum could not be quite kept on though and the team as some poor displays after the winter break meant that the team lost any realistic chance of pushing for the play-offs. They still got a few decent wins in the final games before the end of the regular season but a few injuries to important players meant that they never really found good rhythm.
The displays in the play-offs were quite frustrating as a whole as Oostende drew their opening five games and could not really catch leaders Lokeren after that. Custovic was eventually informed that he will not be keeping his job with a few weeks of the season left but still deserves credit for steadying the ship and recovering the confidence of a side that was struggling badly at the start.
