What a battle! Up against a valiant Reims side, Les Rouge et Noir gave everything they had to win 2-1 with goals from Gaëtan Laborde and Jérémie Boga. The result takes Le Gym back in second place!

Week after week, Les Aiglons continue to impress with their strength, determination and courage. Francesco Farioli's men showed those qualities once again on Sunday afternoon at the Allianz Riviera, against a Stade de Reims side that was both skilful and powerful in one-on-one situations. Sixth in Ligue 1, the side form the Champagne region came to Nice with the third-best attack in the top flight, having scored 20 goals in 14 games, and for a long time thought they would come away from the Plaine du Var with a draw. That was until Jérémie Boga, who had a great game on the left flank, took his chance from a corner and unleashed a powerful low drive that Reims keeper Yehvann Diouf just couldn't hold on to (2-1, 82').

A SUCCESSFUL START

Prior to that, Les Rouge et Noir had made a successful start, with Jordan Lotomba and Gaëtan Laborde returning to the starting XI in place of Thuram (unavailable) and Evann Guessand. Impressive in their pressing and intensity, Les Aiglons were keen to bounce back from their first defeat of the season in Nantes last week, and could have put themselves in the driver's seat from the outset. Taking advantage of a favourable counter-attack following a breakthrough by Melvin Bard, Laborde hesitated between shooting and passing to Terem Moffi, and ended up missing the target in front of the Reims goal (11').

Constantly denying Will Still's men the opportunity to play out of defence, the Allianz Riviera outfit failed to hit the target on all four of their shots in the opening period, including an effort from their Nigerian striker (18th) and another from Laborde, who had picked out Okumu with a dangerous ball into the box (26').

Laborde gets his goal

Dangerous only when Teddy Teuma's free-kick was almost turned home by Yunis Abdelhamid late in the first half (33'), Reims turned up the heat in the second period. Starting to play higher up the pitch, the side that beat Strasbourg last week left plenty of open space for a Nice side who didn't need to be asked twice. Following a long throw from Marcin Bułka, Laborde raced towards goal before unleashing a floating shot that crashed in off the underside of Diouf's cross-bar. The Nice No.24, who had not scored a goal since the win over Paris, got back on the scoresheet with his third goal of the season (1-0, 55').

But Reims did not give up, motivated no doubt by the idea of moving to within three points of Le Gym with a win. Although Bułka was able to rely on his cross-bar to keep out Junya Ito's shot (67'), no one could prevent Abdelhamid's powerful header from the edge of the box from rattling the Nice net for just the Aiglons' second goal conceded at home this season (1-1, 78').

Le Gym get back on the attack

Was that enough to quell Nice's determination? Absolutely not! Buoyed by an Allianz Riviera that never lost its spirit, Les Aiglons pushed forward again and saw their initiative rewarded by Jeremie Boga's third goal of the season (2-1, 82'). Reinvigorated by the arrivals of Evann Guessand, Hicham Boudaoui, Alexis Claude-Maurice and Romain Perraud, Le Gym defended their advantage with consummate discipline - and could even have made it three had Guessand's shot not fizzed just wide (89').

Emerging victorious after six intense minutes of stoppage time, Les Aiglons were able to join their fans in celebrating their ninth win of the season, which saw them move back ahead of AS Monaco and into second place, four points behind PSG. Next week, they travel to Le Havre (Saturday 16 December, 17:00) looking to continue their fine run.

Hugo Rondet