The SCO of Angers continues to prance at the top of Ligue 2 and offered itself the honorary title of autumn champion by beating Guingamp on Tuesday while Auxerre dominated Laval in a duel between ambitious, during the 19th day, the last of the first leg.
The Angevins won by the smallest of margins against the EAG (1-0), and now have 40 points. Still invincible at Raymond-Kopa this season, Angers won thanks to the 10th goal of its center forward Loïs Diony (24th), curiously left alone near the Bretons’ goal. SCO has only conceded two goals at home since the start of the year, and has kept a clean sheet since mid-August. Enough to achieve a 12th success this season, the day when its ex-president and owner Saïd Chabane, whom seven women accuse of sexual assault, was on trial at the city’s criminal court.
Angers still sits in the leadership chair, two points ahead of Auxerre, undefeated since the beginning of November and who won their duel between two teams on the podium against Laval 3-1. The Laval residents, who spent 11 days in first place, confirmed their decline and fell from the podium, beaten by the quality of Auxerre’s play. The Tangos had opened the scoring before being subjected to the law of Auxerre, by Ado Onaiwu (31st) then Sinayoko (58th) at the conclusion of a beautiful collective movement. With a superb sequence, Gauthier Hein gave more scope to the success of his team (68th). Grenoble (34 pts) took third place on goal difference thanks to its easy 3-0 victory against Concarneau.
Further down the table, two struggling giants woke up: Bordeaux climbed out of the relegation zone in a knife-edge match against Dunkirk. The Girondins won 2-0 by reassuring themselves a little in the game and are now 13th with 22 points. Saint-Étienne also revived but was scared: largely dominant at the start of the match, the Greens led 3-0 against Bastia before seeing the Corsicans come back to 3-2 with a quarter of an hour to go . ASSE held on and moved up to seventh place (28 pts), three points behind Pau, which occupies the last play-off place (5th, 31 pts) after its 1-1 draw against Troyes.
