Beaten at the opening of Ligue 2 by Grenoble, Saint-Etienne again fell to the wire in Rodez (2-1), where the start of the meeting was delayed by 55 minutes due to scuffles between Saint-Etienne supporters.
As in the defeat at Geoffroy-Guichard against Grenoble (1-0) last Saturday, the Greens cracked in added time against Ruthénois, winners thanks to Lucas Buades (90 5).
Quite a symbol for the player from Rodez, whose aggression at the end of last season by a Bordeaux supporter had led to the stoppage of the match against the Girondins who were aiming for the rise. The player was then the target of death threats.
“It’s a lot of emotions because I didn’t go through easy times, my parents too. It’s a big revenge on these bad messages that I was able to receive ”declared the player at the microphone of beIN Sports.
On the Saint-Etienne side, the match was a nightmare even before kick-off. The referee, Benjamin Lepaysant, who was about to kick off at 3:05 p.m., had to send the two teams back to the locker room after incidents between two groups of Green supporters in the visitor parking lot at the Paul-Lignon stadium.
At the end of a crisis meeting and when calm had returned to the stands, under the supervision of CRS, the meeting started at 4 p.m. with nearly an hour late.
On the field, the goalkeepers of both teams often stood out. From the 2nd minute, the goalkeeper of the Greens Gautier Larsonneur repelled a half-volley from outside Ahmad Ngouyamsa’s right.
Lionel Mpasi saved his people thanks to a double save against attempts by Benjamin Bouchouari and Victor Lobry (13th).
But just before the break, Larsonneur could not avoid the opener of Antoine Valério, on receiving a corner (1-0, 41st).
Returning from the locker room, after a strike on the post by Bouchouari (49th), the Greens obtained a penalty for a contentious exit from Mpasi. If Gaëtan Charbonnier, replacing Saturday, had missed his during the defeat against Grenoble (1-0), the rookie of the Greens Ibrahim Sissoko did not miss the opportunity to equalize (1-1, 58th).
Karim Cissé could have given the advantage to the Greens, but Mpasi won his face to face with the young 18-year-old player (70th).
It was finally Lucas Buades who emerged to offer victory to Rodez, after a first Ruthenian strike repelled by Larsonneur (2-1, 90 5). After his draw in Ajaccio, Rodez continues his good start to the season.
Quite the opposite of Saint-Etienne, 0 points on the clock and which risks being sanctioned again by the Disciplinary Committee of the League.
The Greens had started the 2022-2023 season with three penalty points due to incidents at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium at the end of the previous year.
