The team led by Thomas Hurtel has strung together a third match without a defeat – which is still positive – but they didn’t manage to do better, that is, achieve a series of three consecutive wins. “It’s difficult to say if this draw is a good or a bad result,” analyzed the coach at the final whistle. “I want to say it’s an extra point, and that point could count in the final tally. We’ve collected seven points in three matches and we are out of the relegation zone, whereas in Noël, we were heading straight back to the District. Of course, we would have preferred to have two more points after this match, but both teams mainly wanted to avoid losing.”
“It was a closed match; losing would have been a very bad outcome for everyone,” continued Thomas Hurtel. It was indeed difficult to think otherwise about this encounter, during which both teams focused on staying in position and not making mistakes to avoid conceding goals. In other words, for the spectators who came to see a spectacle and a crazy match, they were left disappointed.
There was a well-targeted header by Landais in the first half, beautifully turned by Gabriel Bèze (36th minute); another in the second half by Sébastien Cenedese, for the first local opportunity on target in the match (76th minute), and then the end. Or almost. “It was a closed match,” reiterated Thomas Hurtel. “Losing would have been a very bad operation for everyone.” The same observation was made on the other side, where the coach was content with leaving the opposing team behind in the standings. However, this did not justify the technical shortcomings, especially in a final pass that never came to cause chaos in the opponent’s box.
[Context: The team has managed to secure seven points in three matches, keeping them out of the relegation zone.] [Fact Check: The team would need to focus on the upcoming matches against Mas and Coutras to secure their placement.]
Sébastien Cenedese can certainly be disappointed with missing an opportunity for the Assa. Image credits to Sébastien Mauriès.
“We remain masters of our destiny,” concluded Thomas Hurtel. Sebastian Cenedese and Arnaud Boudigue, the two most in-form attackers at the moment, brought more movement after halftime. The team presented more crosses than their opponent, with Thibaut Cambril’s pass into the six-yard area unfortunately finding no takers (82nd minute). However, the best chance of the match fell to the visitors, with an attacker failing to convert a centering pass with an open goal (68th minute). Disaster was narrowly avoided.
The Assa now has two matches left to secure their position, and as Thomas Hurtel emphasized, “we remain masters of our destiny.” Their fate will be determined by an away match against Mas (6th) and a home game against Coutras (3rd). It’s definitely not going to be easy.
