After 22 minutes of play, the match seemed folded, but Saint-Etienne sank against Lorient and experienced one of the worst evenings in its history in Ligue 1 on Friday April 8 (2-6). The two goals from Denis Bouanga (4th) and Arnaud Nordin (22nd) were very misleading. Opposite, Lorient unrolled coming back from nowhere. Les Merlus emerged victorious from this match of the 31st day and took a good breath of fresh air.
The Bretons are now four points ahead of Saint-Etienne, still 18th and roadblocker. For the players of Pascal Dupraz, this new disappointment against a direct opponent does not bode well. Especially since they could see Metz or Bordeaux come back to a single point in the event of victory for one of the two teams during their confrontation on Saturday.
Everything had however started ideally for the Greens, this time dressed in white. After only four minutes of play, Denis Bouanga came to take over a cross from Timothée Kolodziejczak to shake the Breton nets and open the scoring. Luck even seemed to smile on the Stéphanois when Arnaud Nordin doubled the lead, a few seconds after Lorient’s Ibrahima Koné was denied a goal for offside (22nd).
What a match, what an atmosphere, what an evening! On the pitch and in the stands, we had a blast!
+3Go Lorient! pic.twitter.com/Ru5DcYCJaQ
– FC LORIENT (@FCLorient) April 8, 2022
But like last week against Marseille, Pascal Dupraz’s men saw their opponents return to the game before half-time. By Terem Moffi first, after a penalty conceded by Kolodziejczak (42nd), his third offered to the opponent since the start of the season, he who had already been singled out after his own goal last week . Then it was Ibrahima Koné, the Malian striker recruited in the winter transfer window, who came to equalize just before Ruddy Buquet whistled for half-time, magnificently served by Houboulang Mendes.
Touched as against the Phocaeans, Saint-Etienne once again sank in the second half. Enzo Le Fée (61st) then again Ibrahima Koné (65th), for his first double in Ligue 1, took advantage of the defensive feverishness of the Greens, too often caught behind their backs. Symbol of a sinking team, Yvan Neyou, entered in the 62nd minute, received two yellow cards in less than a minute (68th) and was sent back to the locker room. Barely more than five minutes spent on the lawn…
Like their teammate, Pascal Dupraz’s players simply abandoned the game and conceded two new goals from Terem Moffi (86th) then Quentin Boisgard (89th). A historic defeat for the men of Forez who had not conceded six goals in a Ligue 1 match since March 31, 1984 and a 7-0 defeat against Bordeaux.
68th: Yvan Neyou is expelled. It’s a nightmare.
4-2 #FCLASS
– AS Saint-Etienne (@ASSEofficiel) April 8, 2022
In the standings, Saint-Etienne remains stuck in 18th position, synonymous with virtual dams. The Greens see the Hakes move away and take four points ahead of them. The Dupraz effect seems to be fading with four games without a win and ten goals conceded in the last two games. They will receive Brest, next week, at the Cauldron.