On the occasion of the 5th day of Starligue, USAM Nimes fell heavily at home 29-35 against HBC Nantes. There was a huge gap between the two teams…despite a great reaction in the middle of the second half.
Apart from the first minutes of the match, there was no photo at the end of Sunday afternoon, at Parnasse, between USAM Nîmes and HBC Nantes. From the outset, however, the Nîmes seemed to be in the rhythm. Acquevillo, Kaczor, voted player of the month for September, and Sanad allowed the Green Men to lead 3-2. This will be the only time in the match. Because after the fifth minute, the title contender that is the Nantes club played its handball. And USAM could only suffer… Despite all their good will, David Degouy’s players could not keep up with the pace imposed by the gang on Valero Rivera. The final moments of the first half were one-sided and the H reduced the score from 10-13 to 11-18.
We were hoping for a Gardoise reaction upon returning from the locker room. It was nothing of the sort. Nantes continued its march forward and USAM could not do it. From minus seven at the break, the gap quickly rose to minus eleven in the 37th minute…in cathedral silence. Gregory Cojean allowed himself to let his executives breathe and this was the moment that USAM chose for a little burst of pride. Led by Gueric Vincent, with nine goals this evening, Nîmes came back to four goals, with a ball of minus three in hand. There were then ten minutes left but Lou Derisbourg lost the ball. The hope of returning had just passed. Because Aymeric Minne showed all his talent and scored the last goals for his team. Nantes ended up winning 29-35, USAM suffered a third defeat in five games…before going to Chambéry next Friday.
In the post-match conference, David Degouy looked back on his team’s performance: “It’s not at all the scenario we had planned. We defended very well in the first half but we lost too many stupid balls It was more than doable this evening when there are spaces in front of us, we have to go for it but they have to take a step forward with the atmosphere we had this evening. Parnassus, we should have had some audacity and we wanted to respond too much in control, we have to trust each other and we have to let go completely. I’m going to hold on for the last quarter of an hour. We’re going to work but we still have steps to go through together.”
On the sidelines of this match, we learned that the draw for the French Cup had given Montpellier HB to Nîmes. It will be the weekend of December 10-11 and it will take place in Parnasse.
USAM NIMES Gard: Soyez (2 stops), Pardin (3 stops) – Poyet, Peyre (4 goals), Derisbourg (1 goal), Rebichon, Gibelin, Konradsson (2 goals), Vincent (9 goals), Luciano (goals) , Kamtchop-Baril (2 goals), Gibernon (2 goals), Tobie, Acquevillo (4 goals), Kaczor (3 goals), Sanad (2 goals) Ent: David Degouy
