Toulouse takes control, Nancy breathes a little better

EA Guingamp 0-0 Grenoble Foot 38

A draw that satisfies Grenoble. After five consecutive defeats in Ligue 2 (six with the Coupe de France), the Isérois take their first point in the league for more than two months. This is the only positive point of the evening of the GF38, since it remains within reach of the relegation zone. On the Breton lawn, they dominated by obtaining a few situations, but did not manage to set fire to the Guingamp area. The locals, frankly, have shown nothing, and this draw comforts them in the soft underbelly.

AS Nancy-Lorraine 2-1 SC Bastia

Goals: Thomas Basila (25^e) and Andrew Jung (90 e) for Nancy residents // Idriss Saadi (85e) for the Corsicans

And if the ASNL reversed everything, in 2022? After the success against Rennes in the Coupe de France, the Lorraine region won their first two games of the year. It is only their third victory of the season in the league, their first since November 6. This good result, the locals owe it to the goal of Thomas Basila (1-0, 25e), but especially to Johny Placide’s dumpling, whose the outing on a corner is neither successful nor academic. The locals thought they saw the three points fly away, when Idriss Saadi came to beat Nathan Trott at close range (1-1, 85e). But at the dawn of additional time, it was Jung who offered the victory to Nancy with a header (2-1, 90e). Never has a team that capitalized twelve points at the end of the first leg managed to hold on. Nancy, is it possible? In any case, the Nancy are seven points behind the seventeenth place of Valenciennes. For Bastia, on the other hand, it’s a setback when the Corsicans were undefeated for five games in all competitions. The red zone comes back to haunt the Bastiais, who offered nothing this Saturday.

Rodez AF 0-2 Dijon FCO

Goals: Daniel Congré (27e), Alex Dobre (56e)

After a match they dominated, the Dijonnais logically brought back the three points. The Burgundians opened the scoring thanks to Daniel Congré, who took full advantage of the apathy of the Rutherian defense (0-1, 27e): Rosier hit a good free kick from the left, the defenders watching the former Montpellier player control and then open the scoring. Scheidler was then a few centimeters from adding to the score a few minutes later, but Bardy’s header prevented the ball from crossing the line (34 ^{e). Finally, Alex Dobre doubled the bet with a nice half-volley while he was in a duel with the French defender (0-2, 56e). This success allows the DFCO to move away from the red zone, and to return to a point of its opponent in the evening.}

Toulouse FC 1-1 Pau FC

Goals: Branco van den Boomen (77e) for Téfécé // Jovan Nišić (54e) for Pau

Facing Pau, the objective of Toulouse was to steal the leading position from AC Ajaccio by taking the three points. Mission partially successful, for the Violets. At home, Téfécé lacked a lot of inspiration and was even punished by the visitors a little before the hour mark. Searched from the left, Naidji took over in first intention from a tight angle. And if Maxime Dupé set foot, the ball arrived in the shoes of Jovan Nišić who concluded despite a small game of billiards (0-1, 54e^{)
. A punch that woke up Toulouse, finding the bar and the gloves of Alexandre Olliero. But Branco van den Boomen finally delivered his people, finally concretizing their domination
(1-1, 77}e). With this point of draw, Toulouse regains the lead in the championship for an hour before Sochaux takes the lead thanks to its victory against Caen.

FC Sochaux-Montbeliard 3-2 SM Caen

Goals: Kalulu (52^{e), Virginius (66}e^{) and Do Couto (90e+3) for Sochaux // Da Costa (17e) and Deminguet (28e, SP) for the Normans}

Because of the fog, the Normans are arrived late in the Doubs and had to struggle for hours by bus from Stuttgart, where their plane had to land. Eventually started an hour late, this meeting quickly got carried away, since the visitors opened the scoring after a quarter of an hour thanks to a superb cross from Steve Shamal headed in by Nuno Da Costa (0-1, 17e^{). And it was not over, since Malherbe doubled the bet on a penalty provoked by Florentin Pogba and converted by Jessy Deminguet (0-2, 28e). Sochaux showed interesting things, but had to wait for Aldo Kalulu to reduce the score – after a superb delivery from Tony Mauricio} (1-2, 52^{e) – to re-glue. The tide then turned, and the one who had opened the scoring was forced to leave the pitch after receiving a second yellow card (60e). This further boosted the Sochaliens and Alan Virginius, who came to equalize with a header after a corner hit on the right (2-2, 66e}). His teammates then thought of benefiting from a penalty at the very end of the match, but the referee decided otherwise. Despite this blatant refereeing error, Sochaux finally took the lead on the following corner thanks to Maxime Do Couto (3-2, 90e+3). With this victory, Sochaux takes the reins of the classification while Caen is still skating.

By Leo Peat