Ajaccio breaks Saint-Étienne’s invincibility streak and moves closer to maintaining

The match: 2-0

The AS Saint-Étienne series comes to an abrupt end. The Greens traveled to the Corsicans on Saturday in the guise of ultra-favorites, on the strength of their series of eight matches without defeat (7 wins, 1 draw) and their status as runner-up to the leader Auxerre.

Conversely, the Corsicans had not won any of their last seven matches (4 defeats, 3 draws) and saw the relegation zone getting dangerously close before entering this 32nd day of Ligue 2. And yet, these are good the locals who won thanks to a first period full of desire and realism where they managed to put unrecognizable Stéphanois under pressure.

The Ajaccians took control of the game from the 17th minute of play thanks to a penalty from Christopher Ibayi, generously awarded by Mr. Legat, considering that Benjamin Bouchouari blocked with his arm a volley from Hamza Sakhi following a corner . The visitors tried to react through Nathanaël Mbuku (20th) or Mathieu Cafaro (34th). Without success.

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ASSE remained on 4 victories without conceding a goal in Ligue 2 – the last team to have had a best run of its kind in this division was Troyes in April 2019 (5)

The first completely missed his last gesture while the second came up against the vigilance of Corsican goalkeeper François-Joseph Sollacaro. For their part, the Corsicans continued their momentum and scored the break goal thanks to a header from Clément Vidal (45th + 3) from a new corner.

Returning from the locker room, the Greens, lacking inspiration, broke their teeth on the solid Corsican defensive block. The best opportunity came from Cafaro (70th) who saw his curled shot brush against Sollacaro’s post. Their hopes of turning the tide of the game were dashed in the 84th minute of play when Thomas Monconduit, who entered 20 minutes earlier, received a severe red card (84th).

Thanks to this success, the ACA climbs to 11th place in L2 while awaiting the results from Grenoble and Bordeaux. ASSE is assured of retaining its place on the podium but could however lose its second position if Angers (3rd) does not lose on Monday (8:45 p.m.) in Grenoble.

The player: Clément Vidal

The 23-year-old central defender scored his first goal of the season. This one stunned the Greens before returning to the locker room. Beyond his goal, Clément Vidal showed himself serious and solid defensively to contain the Saint-Etienne offensives, like the entire Ajaccian block.