This has unfortunately become a habit this season. If the Red Star is intractable on the road by presenting, by far, the best record in L2 (23 points), the Seine-Saint-Denis club is much less so in its lair of the Bauer stadium (13 points, 33% victories). While they had a good opportunity to come back on the leader Troyes, beaten at Guingamp (1-0), the Audonians had to settle for a draw (2-2) this Saturday against Boulogne-sur-Mer, a poorly ranked player (16th and play-off).
Trailing and numerically inferior, they nevertheless had the merit of snatching a point from a draw thanks to a goal from their rookie Meissa Ba at the end of the match. In the ranking, Red Star retains its 2nd place but could lose it in the event of success from Saint-Étienne (3rd) to Reims (5th) this evening or from Dunkirk (4th) to Le Mans (6th) Monday evening.
Hindered by the opposing pressure, the Audoniens struggled to produce play and suffered the full force of the counterattacks from the Northerners. The goalkeeper Gaëtan Poussin turns into a savior by winning his two face-to-face matches in front of El Farissi (10th) then Binet (25th). Following a back ball, Boulogne goalkeeper Nna Noukeu had poor control of the ball and hooked Kévin Cabral in the area. A boon for Grégory Poirier’s men.
Pope Meissa Ba signs his return
Goleador Damien Durand transforms the penalty (1-0, 32nd) by scoring his 9th goal of the season (2nd top scorer in L2). In total success given the nature of the match, the Red Star got into difficulty on their own during added time, finding themselves 10 against 11 following the expulsion of Cabral for a protest to the referee for a trivial foul on one of his teammates in the center of the field.
After the break, the Audoniens are however very close to making the break despite their numerical inferiority. Damien Durand steals the ball from a Boulogne defender and presents himself alone in front of Nna Noukeu but his cross shot grazes the right upright (58th). This is the turning point of the match. Boulogne reverses the trend in four minutes by Boyer (1-1, 69th) then a header from Burlet (1-2, 73rd).
The Red Star did not get discouraged and finally found themselves rewarded at the end of the match with a great strike from their new recruit Pape Meissa Ba (2-2, 85th). The former top scorer of the National in 2023 under the green and white tunic celebrates his return to Bauer in the most beautiful way to allow his team to snatch a precious point.
“We had difficulty imposing our game in the first half. Our goalkeeper left us in the match then we knew how to be opportunistic before conceding this expulsion, analyzes Grégory Poirier. I note a good entry from all the replacements. We were finally rewarded for our character. It’s very tight between 2nd and 6th. Every point will count. It’s very good to be back on track and especially to be in this place at the end of January. We must not become gentrified and be too greedy. »
The Audonian coach also mentioned the expulsion of Kévin Cabral. “When you already have a warning, you should not speak at all and Kévin should not have spoken to the referee but the content does not deserve a yellow at all. He said: when it’s me it’s yellow card. It’s light. If we put warnings on this type of speech we will put a lot of them…”
Behind the scenes, Red Star, which has lost four players (Rabouille, Kayi Sanda, Renel and Eickmayer) and recruited two (Meissa Ba and Hassen) since the start of the winter transfer window, should further strengthen with the arrival of one or two elements in the defensive midfielder and piston positions.
The match sheet:
RED STAR – BOULOGNE-SUR-MER: 2-2 (1-0). Spectators: 4600. Referee: M. Gaillouste.
Buts. Red Star: Durand (32nd sp), Meissa Ba (85th); Boulogne-sur-Mer: Boyer (69th), Burlet (73rd).
Warnings. Fire Star : Sylla (13e), Cabal (23e) ; Boullogne : Nn Noukeu (31e).
Expulsion. Red Star : Cabral (45e + 4).
Red Star : Poussin – Durivaux, Lemonnier (R. Hachem, 43rd), Huard – Haag – Sylla (Benali, 76th), Danger, Trani (Meissa Ba, 46th), Cissé (Ikanga, 76th) – Durand (Khaoui, 84th), Cabral. Enter. : Poirier.
