Traveling to the court of Toulon St-Cyr for the 12th matchday, Nice came out on top against its neighbor, securing its seventh consecutive victory in the championship (26-20). Impressive!
The Nice Eaglets have been simply unstoppable since the season resumed! No team is doing better in terms of current form, not even the leaders of this Butagaz Energie League, Brest, who have suffered only one defeat since the start of the season. Despite its invincibility, Nice still languishes in 5th place in the standings, but that doesn’t matter today, as it was Toulon St-Cyr who paid the price (26-20). A derby is not played—it is won!
Nobody wants to give up
The first half was a real back-and-forth between the two teams. Neither team wanted to give their adversaries any advantage. In this southeast derby, a long battle unfolded. Determined to bring victory back to the Alpes-Maritimes, the Nice team took control of the game, leading the score for almost the entire first half. As is often the case in crucial moments, captain Ehsan Abdelmalek led the way for her team. As we approached the midway of the first half, the Egyptian player’s powerful shot allowed her team to dominate the early stages of the match (7-5).
The Nice team was well-organized from the start of the game, with goalkeeper Marja Colic also in stellar form, making seven saves. Spurred on by the stakes of this derby, the Toulon players remained on course and even took the lead, thanks to Marine Dupuis (13-12). The final minutes of this first half belonged entirely to Nice. After executing a perfectly orchestrated offensive movement, the Eaglets headed to the locker rooms with a one-goal lead (13-14). A tight half between the Rebels and the Eaglets with everything still to play for the reds and blacks.
And in the end, it’s always Nice who wins
Nice accelerated their efforts, and Toulon St-Cyr couldn’t keep up with the frantic pace set by Marie Prouvensier and her teammates. From the start of the second half, Nice widened the score, scoring three consecutive goals (13-17). The Nice defense frustrated the Toulon St-Cyr attackers, with the yellow and blue team finding the back of the net only five minutes after the restart. The standings justified the outcome on the field. After keeping up the pace for thirty minutes, the Rebels fell behind. Physically, there was no contest on the field; the Nice team smothered their opponents, maintaining their lead until the end of the match.
Tireless Abdelmalek scored seven goals in this southeast derby. Today, it is the entire Nice team that should be commended. It was a coordinated team effort from start to finish to avoid the pitfalls of this away game in Var. Toulon St-Cyr understood clearly that there would be no victory tonight. The gap widened as time ticked down, culminating in a deserved victory for Nice on enemy soil (26-20).
