In a match they largely dominated, Le Gym couldn't find a way past Bastia (1-1). The problem: 20 unfocused minutes at the beginning of the second half and a glaring lack of good fortune. Nonetheless, Le Gym remain atop the Ligue 1 table.

Play with confidence to put your opponent off their game. Stretch your adversary's defence good and properly and make the most of the space they leave open. When Bastia came calling, the Aiglons looked to their technical prowess and their ideas to keep moving forward. They took their foot off the gas for 20 minutes, which left them capable only of a small step forward. Faced with the Corsican outfit, against whom it's preferable to score early and then calmly play your game - but against whom any lapse in concentration is punished - Nice looked to be making things easier for themselves shortly after kick-off.

Picked out by a Mika Seri corner, Alassane Plea headed home impeccably in the 11th minute, getting his side on the right track. This header, 'sent back the way it came' as the old-school football cliché goes, left the Corsican 'keeper rooted to the spot and saw the Niçois take this Week 14 match by the scruff of the neck… for a while, at least.

First blood drawn, Nice looked to make their opponents run. To exhaust them. Back in a 4-3-3 formation, with Cyprien, Seri and Eysseric back in the starting line-up, Lucien Favre's side had the measure of the Blues, who were playing in a 5-3-2. But it didn't secure the victory.

As long as they failed to widen the gap, Nice remained vulnerable. The mercurial Plea missed his chance for a double when he lost a game of chicken with a Leca who stayed on his feet (17'). But this missed opportunity didn't put the Rouge et Noir off their game. By playing out of defence, they drew their opponents out and Bastia spent much of the first 45 minutes off-balance or on the back foot (attested to by Nice's 66% possession in the first half), creating only two half-chances (shots from Cahuzac and Cioni) and a few set-pieces. 

Cruel lapse

The Aiglons looked shaky as they came back from the break, however, with Crivelli winning a strong header from a corner (53'), without getting his effort on target. A reminder that Nice were not safe and that set-pieces remained a powerful weapon. In the wake of Saint-Maximin's entry into play, Bastia looked to build on their first big chance. They lifted their game a notch. Put more quality in their pressing and more precision in their exchanges. And their attacking intentions got them back on level terms, with Crivelli pouncing on a toe-poke from Cahuzac that Cardinale had parried into his path (60').

This slap in the face woke the Aiglons up. But the reaction was not enough. Red-cheeked, they pushed forward again. Valentin Eysseric went to great lengths to volley a fine pass from Dalbert, but Leca pulled out a top-drawer save (68'). Younès Belhanda failed to get enough on his shot moments later. And then Malang Sarr hit the post (72') from a Seri free-kick, the rebound falling to Plea but Leca smothering the ball at the last second. Le Gym were piling on the pressure in the final 20 minutes; urged on by an entire stadium, they went after the win at all costs.

But Sporting hunkered down. Alassane Plea finally got around Leca five minutes from time, but saw his shot come crashing back off the bar.

The cards had been played and the Rouge et Noir would not re-take the lead. Despite the regrets and the frustration that were reinforced by just the one minute of a bizarrely short extra-time, the point won keeps Le Gym atop the Ligue 1 standings.

C.D.

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