Well shut-down for over an hour by a Dijon side who are fighting for survival, the Gym proved that patience is a virtue as they took home a third consecutive victory, the 12th this season by a one goal margin, allowing the Aiglons to keep up the pace with those at the top of Ligue 1.

You have to say, this OGC Nice side doesn’t seem to want to give up! Thanks to their seventh victory away from home this season, the Gym keep themselves in touching distance with the two giants of our Championship.

In Bourgogne, against a team that is currently fighting for their lives, the task proved to be tough. If the Dijonnais were on a poor run of form (4 defeats in 5 encounters), these problems were mainly present away from home, with the Stade Gaston Gérard having seen a Dijon victory over Lyon and the home side securing a draw against Monaco.

It is therefore with a level of calmness and patience that the Gym entered the game.  “Don’t wipe out” the early stages of the game was a recurring theme in Lucien Favre’s comments in the past few weeks. In a 4-3-3 that saw Balotelli make his return, the Aiglons dominated possession in the early exchanges (75% after 20 minutes). Balotelli showed himself to be free on several occasions, working well with Eysseric or Belhanda, the locals’ defence was locked firmly shut however,  and it was difficult for the Niçois to get into the opposition’s penalty area in the right positions. The Red and Blacks were reduced to longer efforts from Cyprien (23’) and Belhanda (29’) without finding the target.

Dijon, who were missing their top scorer Diony (suspended), were timid and only on one occasion did they pose a threat and Dante showed his quality to null the threat from Tavaraes (12’). The Brazilian was even at the heart of the Aiglon’s best opportunity, when he got his head onto the end of a corner from Seri, but Bela was equal to it and cleared off the line.

After the first-half that was played with little rhythm, the game picked up the pace after the return from the dressing rooms. The Aiglons tried to stretch the game on the wings but at the same time, left space for the opposition. Balotelli was the first to pop up with a beautiful strike from 25m, neatly dealt with by Reynet who turned it round the post (55’). Lees-Melou missed an opportunity to score when a cross from Abed came in from the right (56’).

Eysseric and Cyprien make the difference once more

Nice stretched the game by snuffing out their opponent through their switching of the game, but also put themselves in danger with several individual errors. One of those saw Sammaritano take the ball out left, win his battle with Baysse but, from a narrow angle, he was unable to find the target (59’).

The clock ticked by and the Gym made the difference thanks to two men, both in great form over the last couple of weeks. The pass came from Valentin Eysseric, a superb 40m .cross-field ball. To be finished by the Player of the Month for February, Wylan Cyprien, who flew like a rocket and scored a goal that brought back memories of the goal he scored at the Moustoir 15 days ago. The native of Guadeloupe then had the opportunity to go a celebrate in front of the 500 Nice supporters who had crossed France to support their side (69’).

There were 20 minutes to play and even though they were unable to kill the game off, the Red and Blacks managed not to stumble. “We know that we are solid and we defend together” explained Arnaud Souquet after the final whistle. In spite of a couple of attacks from the home side that lacked conviction, Yoan Cardinale was never troubled and takes home another clean-sheet, which means another victory for the Niçois who continue their exceptional season!

A.D.

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