A week after the slap at home against OM, the northern club raised its head in Reims (2-0) at the opening of the 13th day.
Will Still had not returned to Marne since May and his dismissal at the end of last season. Who better than him to help Lens take three points from Auguste Delaune? Surely few coaches because Reims managed to defeat several members of the top 6 this season like Marseille, Paris and Lyon last week. The plan had to go off without a hitch against the young and fiery Rémois and a coach that the Belgian knows just as well, Luka Elsner, whose assistant he was at Standard de Liège.
The start of the match is going very well for the Lensois with Nzola who is close to finding the target from the start of the match (3rd). More incisive, the Lensois practice high pressing which prevents the Rémois from coming out correctly. Reims gets two or three crosses without being sharp but Lens ends up getting the ball out on each occasion. The deliverance will come from Adrien Thomasson, who performs a chest check and follows up with a low volley to send the ball into the back of the net from outside the area (20th, 0-1). The Rémois try to wake up in the second half of the half but without really convincing. However, Lens leaves them the ball and falls back more and more but without conceding any goals before the end of the first act.
Reims too passive, Lens with anger
The Marnais lacked character against a Lensoise team which wandered. The awakening of Will Still's players took place after ten minutes in the second half, first with Labeau-Lascary who wanders into the defense but Yevhann Diouf makes a good save (54th). Mbala Nzola also had a huge opportunity in the one-on-one hour mark but his shot was completely deflected.
The Angolan international caught up a few minutes later to double the lead for the Lensois (62nd, 0-2) by receiving the ball with his back to the goal, then eliminating the defenders and finally the goalkeeper. Much more enterprising, the Lensois were not worried by the Rémois who only had one big opportunity. Junya Ito, launched deep following a corner, also misses his one-on-one against Brice Samba (73rd). This will be the last big action of the match and the Rémois will concede their fourth defeat in six championship matches.
In the standings, RC Lens moved up to 6th place, passing Lyon before their weekend match, while Reims is close to leaving the top 10 with this ninth place.
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