AC Ajaccio pile misery on Angers, Troyes and Nantes share spoils as Ligue 1 restarts
AC Ajaccio 1 Angers 0
AC Ajaccio continued their good run of form from before the World Cup to notch a valuable 1-0 win over Ligue 1's basement club Angers thanks to a goal from the spot for Algerian player Belaili.
Before the World Cup, the Corsican club found themselves in the relegation places alongside Angers, but had been unbeaten in their last two games.
At home on Wednesday, they started brightly, dominating possession whilst also testing Paul Bernardoni in the visitor's goal. They then had their reward five minutes before the break.
Bernardoni brought down an Ajaccio attacker and after a VAR consultation, referee Jeremy Stinat awarded the penalty, which Belaili dispatched with ease.
Mounaim El Idrissy then had a good chance on the stroke oh half-time to double the hosts' lead only to see his effort curl past the far post when well placed.
Angers have won just two games all season, picking up eight points in the first portion of their campaign.
They were missing star man Sofiane Boufal, whose Morocco side got through to the semi-finals at the World Cup, and they had to rely on others for chances. Twelve minutes into the second half, they had their best chance for a leveller through Amine Salama, but his shot was well saved by Benjamin Leroy.
They continued to threatened as Ajaccio looked ready to settle for all three points and were pushed deeper and deeper by Angers late on.
Abdallah Sima brought the best out of Leroy, who made a great reflex save to stop the winger from scoring before second-half substitute Sada Thioub fired just over from the rebound.
With Leroy's excellence in goal, Ajaccio held on for the win, jumping out of the relegation spots and up to 14th. They will be looking over their shoulders, however, as they are just one point from dropping back in once more.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Benjamin Leroy (AC Ajaccio)
Check out the game summary with Flashscore.
Troyes 0 Nantes 0
Patrick Kisnorbo’s Troyes drew 0-0 against Nantes, as he became the first Australian to ever manage in a top-five European league.
Despite both teams returning to Ligue 1 action precariously close to the relegation zone, there were no signs of fear in a fairly open start to proceedings.
Even so, it took 18 minutes for the first shot on target, which came when a short corner resulted in Ludovic Blas finding Mostafa Mohamed, whose unconvincing header in space was gathered by Mateusz Lis.
Blas then teed up Moussa Sissoko as he raced through on goal moments later, before Lis rushed out to deny the marauding midfielder.
After Mohamed wasted two more headed opportunities, Andreas Bruus came agonisingly close to opening the scoring for the hosts as he turned Nicolas Pallois inside out and hit an effort that smashed the crossbar.
Blas had been among the most threatening players throughout the opening 45 minutes, and his strike with the final kick before the break was awkwardly patted wide by Lis, meaning La Maison Jaune entered the break with the game goalless for the fifth consecutive competitive match.
Alban Lafont was tested by Wilson Odobert shortly after the restart, and the goalkeeper was thankful to see the ball fall to a man in yellow when he palmed it away.
Both teams continued to show intent as the half progressed, with Rony Lopes providing some nice trickery, although a lack of quality in the final third remained the problem and left the home supporters frustrated.
However, they would have been pleased to see Samuel Moutoussamy’s powerful strike being blocked by Yoann Salmier.
In a blistering end to the match, Lafont gratefully kissed the post when it saved the goalkeeper’s blushes after he made a mess of saving Xavier Chavalerin’s effort, meaning Kisnorbo’s first Troyes match was the club’s eighth without a win despite their first league clean sheet of the season.
With Pallois missing a late header, Nantes’ own winless run in Ligue 1 was extended to five games, leaving La Maison Jaune one point above the relegation zone with three of the four teams below them playing later in the day.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Andrei Girotto (Nantes)
