Ligue 2 (28th day). Guingamp – Reims: 2-0
1 Defensive passivity that hurts
Throughout the 90 minutes, the Guingamp defense suffered. Lacking organization and guilty of passivity on numerous occasions, the defenders from Cotes-d’Armor left a lot of space for the Reims players. In the 9th minute, Japanese forward Nakamura was found alone in the box, easily dribbled past Ortola but failed to score. But this warning was not heeded. Five minutes later, Nakamura combined with Daramy near the penalty area without the defense intervening firmly enough. Daramy opened the scoring (1-0, 14′).
In the second half, the marking of the Red and Blacks on Leoni’s free-kick left much to be desired. It left Reims captain Gbane alone at the far post to push the ball into the net (2-0, 70′). The knockout blow for En Avant.
But the score could have been even more punishing: Nakamura’s attempts lacked precision (23′ and 59′) and Ortola deflected N’Tamon’s header onto the crossbar from a corner (76′).
2 Hindered by Jaouen and plagued by clumsiness
On the other side of the field, the Guingamp attack failed to make up for the defensive errors. Ewen Jaouen, the Brest goalkeeper trained in Guingamp, frustrated Mafouta and his teammates. First, by saving the penalty from the number 9 early in the second half, while taunting the Red Kop (49′), and then miraculously deflecting Mafouta’s diving header onto the post a little later (60′).
Soon after, Stanislas Kielt, benefiting from a high ball recovery by Dylan Louiserre, found himself face to face but missed the target (70′). The end of a strong period where the Guingamp players failed to capitalize, letting the match slip away, as Reims punished them with a free-kick shortly after.
3 Unlucky Roudourou
Today’s defeat leaves Guingamp in 10th place in Ligue 2, 9 points behind the 5th-placed Reims. Above all, En Avant Guingamp struggles to string together results at home, following the narrow victory against Amiens on March 13. Before that, the Red and Blacks had a 0-0 draw against Rodez and a loss to Saint-Etienne.
Technical sheet
Referee: M. Valnet.
GOALS. Reims: Daramy (13′), Gbane (70′).
Warnings. Guingamp: Nair (38′), Bartouche-Selbonne (43′), Sidibe (63′), Mafouta (66′), Abdallah (75′); Reims: Patrick (35′), Jaouen (68′).
GUINGAMP: Ortola – Koffi, Gomis, Nair, Abdallah – Sagna (Samoura, 58′), Louiserre (c., Ahile, 71′), Sidibe, Hatchi (Mbemba, 58′) – Kielt, Mafouta. Subs not used: Bartouche-Selbonne (gk), Demouchy, Matumona, Matondo. Coach: S. Ripoll.
REIMS: Jaouen – Busi, Sekine, N’Tamon, Kotto, Akieme – Gbane, Patrick (Fofana, 90’+4), Leoni – Nakamura (Tia, 77′), Daramy (Bojang, 77′). Subs not used: Olliero (gk), Pallois, Diarra, Benhattab. Coach: K. Geraerts.
