Despite a penalty missed by Gaël Kakuta and a goal refused after many minutes, Lens won only a draw in Reims (1-1), Saturday during the 25th day of League 1, missing the opportunity to win in the race for Europe.
Unbeaten for four games in all competitions, the Sang et Or have confirmed their good disposition away (6 wins) and would have deserved to win as their domination was outrageous.
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This draw freezes the position of the Lensois (6th, 37 pts) but allows the Rémois to scratch a place (13th, 29 pts) before the meetings on Sunday. Harmless and roughed up at the start of the game, David Guion’s men, deprived of their captain Yunis Abdelhamid, believed they had done the hard part by scoring on their first foray thanks to Arber Zeneli (1-0, 12th), absent for four matches of championship for an injury to the hamstring.
But this goal did not affect the stranglehold of the Lensois on the game. Players, entrepreneurs and aggressive, the promoted had a multitude of opportunities. After touching the bar by Massadio Haidara on receiving a corner at the far post (39th), they even benefited from a generous penalty, after a duel between Ghislain Konan and Haidara. But Gaël Kakuta’s strike fled the frame and symbolized the flagrant lack of success of the Sang et Or in front of goal (45th).
Franck Haise’s players ended up logically returning to the game in the second half. After an overflow from Jonathan Clauss on the left, his retreating center found Florian Sotoca who only had to adjust Predrag Rajkovic (1-1, 60th). A few minutes later, Sotoca thought he was going for a brace on a block, but the video referee canceled the goal: his strike was pushed back a hair by Rajkovic on his line and Banza, who pushed the ball to the background, was reported offside (68th).
In short, despite an always attractive collective game, the Artésiens have spoiled too much. The fault, also, to a very inspired Rajkovic and valiant Rémois in defense.
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