On the eve of the summit clash between Thun and Étoile Carouge, Xamax missed a golden opportunity to get closer to the leading duo in the Challenge League. Beaten in Vaduz (2-1) this Friday evening at the opening of the 14th day, the Neuchâtel residents conceded a second consecutive defeat. If they retain their place on the podium (3rd, 22 points), they remain three lengths behind Thun and four behind Carouge.
In Liechtenstein, Uli Forte’s team suffered a catastrophic start. From the 3rd minute, Giovani Bamba was guilty of a huge loss of ball which Javi Navarro took advantage of, in an ideal position to deceive Edin Omeragic.
The Rouge et Noir struggled to get back on track. Scrambled, they waited until the 45th minute to find the target, on their tenth attempt. By insisting, they ended up adjusting the sights and equalized thanks to Guillaume Furrer (69th). On their momentum, they continued to push but their efforts were reduced to nothing because of a hand from Michael Gonçalves in his area. Penalty awarded to Vaduz and Dominik Schwizer did not miss the opportunity to crucify his former club (76th).
Stunned, the Neuchâtelois could have left with a point if Benjamin Büchel had not diverted at the end of regulation time a masterful strike from Furrer which took the path of the skylight (90th).
Where will Dalibor Stevanovic’s Stade Lausanne Ouchy end? In distress under the leadership of Ricardo Dionisio, the Lions have revived since the appointment of the Slovenian coach. The latter remains undefeated after the victory of his players at Pontaise in the derby against Stade Nyonnais (6-2). The SLO goes on to a sixth match without defeat – the last one dates back to September 24 – and all the credit goes to it, as it knew how to ignore the headwinds.
The Lausannois imposed overwhelming domination on the Côte team (62% possession, 24 shots including 13 on target). Success initially went their way, Axel Kayombo opening the scoring with their second shot (13th). Effective, but not as much as the Nyonnais. The latter only needed one opportunity to score and the equalizer came from the left foot of Malik Deme (24th).
The SLO was not at the end of its troubles: upon returning from the locker room, Franck Koré gave the advantage to the visitors (46th), who converted their only two attempts on target of the match.
But these Lions have resources, as they proved in Carouge on October 25. Michael Heule reset the counters before the hour mark (55th), then they took the advantage thanks to Warren Caddy (69th). The start of an offensive orgy: Caddy scored a second goal in the 78th minute, Michel de Jesus (90th) and Nathan Garcia (90th+2) imitated him, offering the Stadistes a great success.
In the ranking, SLO climbs to 7th position, with 16 points. Nyon, for its part, suffered a tenth defeat in 14 days and fell to last place (10 points).
