What a character, and what a scenario! The Yellow and Blue could have turned red with anger due to faulty refereeing, but they finally ended the evening drunk with joy. This Saturday will have been crazy from start to finish, but the FCSM recovered wonderfully to warm up a cold and foggy Bonal.
A failed first half
It is besides the mist which will have been the first actor of this match. The plane from Caen had to land in Stuttgart because of the fog, and the Normans then made the journey by coach to Montbéliard, which delayed the kick-off by an hour. Arrival disturbed for Caen, which also made the private trip of nine players, including several holders.
But in the first half, the FCSM showed too imprecise to take advantage of the weaknesses of Stade Malherbe. It was the Caennais who benefited from Franche-Comté defensive wanderings to take the lead thanks to Nuno da Costa (17′). Something to cool the 5,000 FCSM supporters a little more.
The arbitration of Aurélien Petit however heated the voice of the Sochaux fans in the 28th minute. A more than questionable penalty was whistled after a tiny clash by Florentin Pogba. Jessy Deminguet transformed this offering, and the Normans doubled their lead.
A crazy second half
But after the break, the Yellow and Blue put the madness necessary to disperse the doubts. Returned from the locker room filled with envy, the Sochaliens quickly showed that they intended to fight until the end, confiscating the ball and being much sharper offensively.
It quickly worked, and Kalulu closed the gap from the 52nd. On the defensive, the Normans ended up cracking, like Da Costa, excluded after a second yellow (60th).
Winning coaching, and Bonal explodes
Omar Daf then decided to go for broke, by doing changes to field the most offensive team possible. Do Couto and Virginus came to blast the sides from the 65th, allowing Mauricio and Weissbeck to place themselves at the heart of the game, behind Kalulu and Kitala.
The effect of the Virginius–Do Couto doublet will have been immediate. As soon as he entered, the first served behind the second, whose strike was repelled with the end of the gloves by the Caen goalkeeper, Rémy Riou. On the corner, Virginius placed an angry header, allowing the FCSM to pick up the score (66th).
At the very end of the match, the Bonal stadium exploded twice, once in anger, the other in joy.
In the 92nd, Do Couto’s shot was touched with the hand by a Caen defender, but Aurélien Petit simply showed the corner post. A umpteenth questionable decision, in a meeting where he will have distributed 13 (!) cards.
What create a huge wave of frustration. Quickly replaced by a crazy deliverance on the corner, where after a Norman dismissal, Do Couto hit from the entrance to the surface, making all the Sochaux people exult (93rd).
Provisional first place
A Hollywood scenario that puts the FCSM temporarily in the lead. A ranking necessarily appetizing, but misleading, because of the late matches of the leading pack. But whatever happens, Sochaux has a lion character this season.