It was a bad weekend for both Americans in France as neither picked up a victory in Ligue 1 action.
Clermont 2 – 1 Le Havre
Le Havre hit the road over the weekend to central France to take on last place Clermont. Things didn’t go the way they expected as they made the long trip back home with the taste of defeat in their mouths after giving up an early goal. Emmanuel Sabbi was in the starting line-up but was subbed off after 61 minutes.
The Lancers scored very early when Neto Borges picked out Muhammed Cham released a left-footed shot from the left side of the box and sent it into the bottom right-hand corner in the 12th minute.
In the 30th minute, however, things swung in favor of le Club Doyen when Clermont’s Elbasan Rashani was shown a straight red card. And the visitors capitalized on the man superiority seconds before the halftime whistle blew. Andre Ayew tucked the ball into the back of the net to put both teams on level terms going into the locker room. Well, that’s what Le Havre thought anyway but in the fifth minute of first half extra time, the hosts won a penalty that Cham converted for his second netbender of the game.
Try as they might in the second half, the visitors just could not find another goal and ended up dropping all the points against the 10-man last-place team.
Just two points from relegation safety, Sabbi and company will host fellow strugglers, Montpellier after the international break.
Notes
Folarin Balogun didn’t get off the Monaco bench until the 88th minute when they hosted Lorient. The game ended 2-2, meaning that two points dropped have kept the Red and Whites from moving into second place. They’ll look to do just that when they travel to FC Metz, who are currently in the relegation zone.
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