Shaken by a rugged Le Havre team, Les Aiglons succumbed (3-1) at the Stade Océane this Saturday afternoon.

For their debut at the Stade Océane, Les Rouge et Noir would certainly have dreamed of a better baptism. Facing Le Havre for the first time in 14 years, Francesco Farioli's men came up against a newly-promoted team that was tough in the duels, sharp on the counter-attack, clinical in front of goal, and solid defensively. A combination that led to Le Gym's second defeat of the season, following the one against Nantes on 2 December.

Set up in their traditional 4-3-3 formation, Les Aiglons, already without Khephren Thuram, Sofiane Diop and Badredine Bouanani, had to deal with a last-minute injury to Terem Moffi, who was replaced in the starting eleven by Evann Guessand. Caught out by a Le Havre counter-attack, Dante and his teammates conceded an early goal from Emmanuel Sabbi. Marcin Bulka could only parry a tricky shot from Mohamed Bayo, before the striker pounced onto the rebound to finish from close range (1-0, 5').

The start of a great afternoon for Sabbi, who scored a superb second goal shortly after the half-hour mark. Following another recovery high up the pitch by Le Havre, the American international controlled and let rip with a high-quality shot to find the left corner of Bułka's net (2-0, 35').

Le Gym not clinical enough

Meanwhile, Le Gym weren't as clinical, despite several promising chances, exemplified by Pablo Rosario. Positioned in a more offensive role than usual, the Dutch midfielder first faced Arthur Desmas, who emerged victorious from the one-on-one with a fine save with his boot (14'). Once again found in the penalty area by a header from Jérémie Boga, the Nice number 8 chose to control and couldn't quite connect properly with his shot from close range (28').

Guessand (9'), then Boga with a header (20'), also tried their luck in vain. Les Aiglons therefore headed into the dressing room at half-time with a two-goal deficit despite having had 63% possession and 10 attempts on goal. The worst was yet to come as they suffered a third blow at the beginning of the second half. From another Le Havre counter-attack, Melvin Bard fouled Loïc Nego in the box to concede a penalty. Well-converted by Mohamed Bayo, this sealed Le Gym's fate (3-0, 51').

Baldé injured, Todibo sent off

And Le Gym's challenging afternoon did not end there. After coming on for Guessand, Aliou Baldé suffered a heavy tackle from Josué Casimir. Having injured his knee, the Senegalese winger had to be replaced by Tom Louchet after only ten minutes, not without making an impression with several impressive runs (63' and 70'). Another setback for Les Rouge et Noir, who ended the game with 10 players after JC Todibo's red card (81').

The silver lining eventually came from Tom Louchet who took advantage of the opportunity to push the ball into the back of the net after Laborde's shot was parried. The 20-year-old reduced the deficit with the first goal of his professional career (90+1').

Stunned in Normandy but assured of retaining second place at the end of Matchday 16 thanks to Lyon's victory over Monaco, Le Gym will try to bounce back this Wednesday, as they host Lens in the closing match of the first half of the season and the 2023 calendar year.

Hugo Rondet

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