Saint-Étienne therefore scored this Saturday against Annecy (2-1) a third victory in a row in Ligue 2, the second in a row at home, a great first this season. One more sign, perhaps, that these 2024 Greens have reached a milestone.
After Troyes (5-0), Angers (3-0), the Stéphanois won in a match that their coach, Olivier Dall’Oglio, had described as a perfect trap. This was verified with an Annecy team which, like almost all those who came to Geoffroy-Guichard, certainly produced one of its best collective performances in the first period.
Very (too?) playful, the Annéciens will have had opportunities, like these strikes from Kapitbafan Djoco (18th, 37th) diverted with authority by Gauthier Larsonneur. Or even well-placed free kicks that were very poorly negotiated (21st).
Pajot hits the edge
With these new-look Greens, even if they lost balls and still showed too much technical waste on Saturday, it is better to be efficient. United in the fight, they did not miss, like on this ball release where in four passes Mathieu Cafaro found Irvin Cardona at the far post for the opener (1-0, 10th). And at the end of the first period, Cardona sent a marvelous cross onto the head of Ibrahim Sissoko for the break goal (2-0, 42nd). The Saint-Etienne striker’s tenth this season.
In addition to being clinical, this team was able to count on a bit of success when, after a save from Larsonneur, Vincent Pajot got ahead of Yvan Maçon and saw, on a header, the ball hit the edge (66th). With the reduction of Samuel Ntamack’s score from the penalty spot (87th), the end of the match became tense among the Saint-Etienne supporters. They could breathe, on a last ball from Escales in the box, which produced nothing (90th + 4). With this new success, the Greens continue and regain the podium in the standings, before the end of this 26th day. Annecy, really not paid for its efforts, remains 19th and could see the gap widen with the higher ranked teams.
