Nîmes Olympique: against Villefranche, the praise of perseverance

Ismaël Camara and the Crocos, coming up against an eye-catching formation from Villefranche, like Latouchent, snatched a draw in the 90th minute. Midi Libre – Mikaël Anisset

National (22nd day). In numerical superiority for 73 minutes, the Crocos, trailing by the score, had to fight for a long time and not give up before finally snatching, at the end of the game, a deserved equalizer (1-1).

They almost lost, they could have ended up winning, they will be content with a draw. The Crocos extended their invincibility series to five matches on Friday February 23 (3 wins, 2 draws) at the end of a match described as “special” by Frédéric Bompard. Trailing for a long time, they had the merit of not giving up to snatch the equalizer in the last minute.

The results of the 22nd day and the National ranking

"We played a men’s match, we always believed in it", appreciated the crocodile coach. It was necessary to bring to reason a solid Villefranche team, reduced to ten for more than seventy minutes. "My players had c…, they stripped themselves", summarized the Caladois coach Romain Revelli.

The sun of Diallo and the expulsion of Louzif

It was spectacular. Following Louzif's intervention on Diallo's shin, the Nîmes left-back made quite a splash and remained on the ground for a long time. Mr. Roffet first took out the yellow card, then the red (17th). Too severe ?

Another question: at 11 against 10, did the highway open in front of the Nîmes ? Not sure, because Villefranche, already very compact, passed five behind. "They put the bus on, we hit a wall", summarized Bompard.

The technical sheet

NÎMES-VILLEFRANCHE: 1-1 (0-1).
Stade des Antonins. Referee: Brendan Roffet. Spectators: 1,730.
Goal for N&imes : Sané (90th).
Goal for Villefranche: Mendy (26th csc).
Warning à Villefranche: Bendaoud (22nd).
Expulsion à Villefranche: Louzif (17th).
NÎMES : Paradowski – Sbaï (Burner, 60th), Mendy (cap.), Paviot, Diallo – Mexico, Doukansy, Picouleau (Thoumin, 83rd) – I. Camara (Doucouré, 60th), Mbina (Sané, 72nd), Mbemba.
VILLEFRANCHE : Péan – Kouadio, Moussadek, Dekoke (cap.) (Da Silva, 51st) – Bendaoud (B. Camara, 46th) – Louzif, Sergio, Blanc (Ba, 81st), Latouchent – Messoussa (May, 46th), Sidibé (Mbuyi, 61st).

The Caladois, who had increased their anti-playing fouls since the start of the match, however conceded two new free kicks, this time at the entrance to the area. On the second, Picouleau could not find the target (23rd). On the first, Péan took off to deflect Mexico's strike (21st). The former goalkeeper n° 2 from Caen (18 L2 matches) similarly went horizontal on a header from Mendy (12th).

Villefranche scores on its first and last opportunity

Autoroute ? Nîmes quickly arrived at the toll booth. Former Croco Sergio placed the ball on Kouadio's head. Just behind, Mendy diverted the ball and took Paradoxski on the wrong foot (0-1, 26th). This free kick was Villefranche's first real situation. And the last…

The rest was unchallenged Nîmes domination. But Villefranche is serious and tough. The Rhone team conceded its only four defeats against the top three (Red Star, Niort and Martigues) and Dijon. It flowed and compensated perfectly, a flawless defensive organization.

Péan's cages were well guarded and despite the activity of the Crocos, finding the gaps and bringing danger into the area was not easy. The Crocos touched the ball too much, did not restart quickly enough, took too long to go to the sides and especially lacked precision in the final movements. For lack of a solution, precious Mexico tried to strike twice, one shot too soft, one shot off target (33rd and 42nd).

12 Nîmes corners in the second half

In the second period, the Caladois block did not disunite. Nîmes accumulated corners (12) but nothing happened, because there was not enough movement, because we only saw Blue, and not enough Red in the Rhone area . And when Mbemba, with his head, took Camara's center, it was the crossbar that was found (57th).

The more the minutes passed, the less we felt the Nîmes were able to equalize. "They were growing in an anarchic manner, we weren’not that much in danger", noted Revelli.

Sané enters and scores

However, the Crocos, boosted by the entry of Sané, insisted and an avalanche of crosses, not always well adjusted, fell in front of Péan's cages. On all the balls, there were one, two, even three from Rhone, who were keen on their second success on the road, to clear them. But on a new serve in Diallo's box, Sané skillfully executed a diving header (1-1, 90th). First appearance and first goal!

Mbemba and Thoumin then had the match point in added time, but Villefranche would not have deserved to lose. 1-1, everyone could be satisfied.

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