Unlike the frenzied pace of last week’s match against Amiens, the game starts at a much slower pace. The visitors remain timid and are getting accustomed to the somewhat unique field at Magnan. It is the visitors who first become dangerous near the goal guarded by Grégory Brun, the Nice goalkeeper, scoring through Carreyn from a long shot (8th minute). Then the match balances out, with the people from Nice creating numerous dangerous plays without capitalizing on any.
Penalties prove costly for Nice
During the first half, Nice will be penalized four times. That’s all it takes for the visitors to push the score to 4-0 thanks to their striking realism. Both teams depart at halftime with the score at 4-0. The Angels might feel disappointed about this first half where they played evenly at 4 against 4 but paid dearly for a lack of discipline (penalty) and their lack of realism.
When it just doesn’t work, it doesn’t work
The second half starts at a completely different pace, with the people from Nice eager to quickly catch up on the scoreboard, but their indiscipline will cost them yet another goal in a disadvantaged situation. The score will even be raised to 6-0 due to a goal worthy of the biggest bloopers: an own goal following a misunderstanding by the Nice defense while the goalkeeper had gone out to provide a numerical advantage during a delayed penalty!
A late awakening
With 15 minutes of play left, we witness the awakening of the Nice team who accelerate the game and become increasingly dangerous. Hunkering down in defense, the people from Île-de-France are under pressure and have few counter-attack opportunities. Nice suffers from a severe lack of realism. The opposing goalkeeper, the posts, nothing was succeeding for the locals who lament “nothing goes in!” It takes a goal by Gaétan Champion assisted by Cyril Duchassin to jumpstart the momentum. With just 10 minutes left in the game, the Angels, driven by the crowd, double their efforts to capitalize on this domination. It’s Gaétan Champion who will score a double tonight, assisted by Manu Milano who will secure the 2nd and final goal of the game tonight.
“I’m disappointed as I leave this match, disappointed because we know very well that at this level, indiscipline is costly. At 4 against 4, we played evenly throughout the match, we even dominated largely at the end. Luck wasn’t on our side, the Parisian goalkeeper Zinger had a superb game. Now we have 4 very important matches left for survival: 2 matches against Tours, then we host Caen and go to Montpellier. That’s our goal, to gather as many points as possible from these four matches.” (Manu Milano, Captain for the night)
