Girondins beaten in Brest [2-1]

Close. So close. But it all fell apart in the last ten minutes. With Bordeaux sitting on the slenderest of leads, Brest kept on fighting and eventually found a chink in the Girondins' armour. When Benoît Costil parried Honorat's shot, Stève Mounié followed it up to equalise from close range (1-1, 80’). Five minutes later, Romain Faivre sealed the deal. His shot took a deflection off Laurent Koscielny to lob Costil (2-1, 85’).

And yet, it all started so well for Bordeaux. The Girondins dominated the first half-hour, with Rémi Oudin (2’) and Toma Basic (8’) both looking menacing. It was Hatem Ben Arfa who had the first big chance on goal. Connecting with a smart through ball from Nicolas De Préville, he narrowly lost his one-on-one with the Brest keeper (12’). Bordeaux were playing high up the pitch and dominating possession, keeping Brest on a short leash and obliging them to try their luck from occasional counter-attacks, mostly led by winger Romain Perraud (10’, 27’).

But things changed after 30 minutes, as Brest finally managed to get hold of the ball and create some chances. Paul Lasne (20’) came close with a good shot, and Irvin Cardona had a goal (correctly) disallowed for offside (45’+1). The second half picked up where the first left off, with Jean Lucas (46’ and 49’) and Romain Faivre (48’ and 55’) drawing superb saves from Benoît Costil. And yet, it was during this Brest onslaught that Bordeaux opened the score. When Rémi Oudin picked out Hwang Ui-Jo on the left, the Bordeaux man looked to be beaten, but he read the trajectory of the ball better than Hérelle. Ui-Jo snatched the ball away from the defender and than smashed it past the keeper (0-1, 56’). This was Hwang's 6th goal of the season so far, equalling his total from last year.

But after that moment of genius it was almost all Brest. Substitutes Jean-Michaël Seri, making his debut, and Jimmy Briand were powerless to change the run of play. The hosts kept piling on the pressure, and the Girondins struggled to make their counter-attacking chances count. In spite of Bordeaux's heroic defensive efforts, it all came done in the last ten minutes.