Japan striker Yuya Kubo scored his ninth goal since moving to Gent in January, but his club lost 4-3 to Oostende in the Belgian soccer championship playoffs Sunday.
At Versluys Arena in Ostend, Gent's Kenny Saief opened the scoring in the 13th minute but the visitors allowed the hosts to equalize 11 minutes later.
Danijel Milicevic scored in the 56th minute to put Gent ahead again, but Oostende went on to score three times in the space of 13 minutes to make it 4-2.
"I'm glad I was able to score, but our defense was weak and we can't win if we play like that. It hurts that we lost, but we'll just have to switch our mindset," Kubo, who netted in the 80th minute with Saief's assist to pull Gent to within one goal.