A battling draw in Lorient [1-1]

The Girondins got this game off to a very promising start, when in the very first minute Yacine Adli picked out Rémi Oudin with a long ball. Lorient keeper Paul Nardi saw it coming, though, and intercepted the ball. Lorient soon had a chance of their own, a front-post header from Fabien Lemoine which ended up in the side netting (4’). A few seconds later, Quentin Boisgard won a free kick in a dangerous position. He did the honours himself, but Costil had it covered. Lorient kept on pushing, and it took a superb intervention from Laurent Koscielny to clear Laurent Abergel's cross into the box (10’).

Javairo Dilrosun played a great cross for Alberth Elis (11’), but other than that the Girondins were on the back foot as the hosts fired cross after cross into the Bordeaux box (14’, 16’, 19’, 26’). The Girondins managed to get their head above water after half an hour, with Javairo Dilrosun racking up two shots on target in the space of a minute. Unfortunately for the Dutchman, Paul Nardi had both efforts covered. The rest of the first half played out without serious incident. The Girondins finally got a break in the first moments of the second half. Connecting with a long ball from Junior Onana, Alberth Elis smashed it into the net to give Bordeaux the lead (46’, 0-1). Lorient almost levelled four minutes later, when Terem Moffi centred for Diarra who beat Benoît Costil but not the crossbar.

Lorient came close again from another corner, but Costil was on his usual, solid form (55’). The Girondins were growing in confidence, pushing up the field and wining corners of their own (61’ 62’). But Lorient never gave up hope, and were soon back creating chances on goal (68’). Five minutes later, Stian Gregersen put in a massive challenge to preserve the Girondins' slender lead (73’). Imad Diarra thought his chipped effort was bound for the back of the net, but the Norwegian defender had other ideas. Nevertheless, the equaliser soon came (76’, 1-1). Fabien Lemoine crossed the ball in after a short corner, teeing up Julien Laporte for a header which Costil was powerless to stop.

The Girondins were stung by this goal, and immediately went back on the offensive. Javairo Dilrosun won a free kick in a very enticing position, but Yacine Adli's low-flying shot was well caught by Paul Nardi (80’). Meanwhile, Lorient were pushing for a winner (81’, 83’, 84’) and a panicked challenge from Junior Onana earned him a red card (86’). Vladimir Petkovic decided to close the game down, sending on Fransérgio and Timothée Pembélé for Javairo Dilrosun and Yacine Adli (90’). Barely a minute later, Sékou Mara came on for Alberth Elis. The Girondins came perilously close to losing this game, with both Sambou Soumano (90+3’) and Igor Silva (90+5) firing shots millimetres wide of Benoît Costil's goal. Another draw sees the Girondins stuck in mid-table, and they will be desperate to pick up all three points against Reims (currently in 16th place) next Sunday 31 October at the Matmut ATLANTIQUE.