September 26, (THEWILL) – Nantes, the Ligue 1 side of Super Eagles star Moses Simon, travelled to Reims to face their top flight opponents at the Stade Auguste-Delaune II on Sunday and, even though they finished on the losing side, Simon found the only goal in the 3-1 matchday eight encounter to open his account for the season.
Having been responsible for five assists, the Super Eagles’ left flank operator was on the scoresheet this time himself with Pedro Chirivella to thank for helping him hit the target two minutes after the hour mark for the Nantes equaliser.
But, the Western France side, who came into the game on the back of two consecutive wins against Angers and Brest, were pegged back by the super substitute Hugo Ekitike, who was introduced in the 70th minute and put two in the net for a 3-1 defeat to Nantes.
Nevertheless, Simon remained a crucial part of most of the visitors’ best-attacking moves as the Nigerian forward constantly linked up with his teammates from corner-kicks and with crosses, even if his efforts either were intercepted or missed their intended targets apart from his 62nd minute netter.
He very nearly broke the deadlock himself, but his headed effort failed to get anywhere near the target, moments before halftime. The teams went into the break with not much in terms of highlights for the first 45 minutes.
Reims punished the visitors for all their missed opportunities from the first half soon after hostilities resumed with Thomas Foket as the opening goal scorer. The Reims man headed the home side in front in the 51st minute and it was going to take Simon to bring Nantes on level terms.
In a move of individual brilliance and perfect timing, Simon displayed composure to dribble past a clutch of Reims defenders, after receiving the ball from Chirivella, before finishing in the left bottom corner past Alban Lafont.
However, the 70th minute introduction of man of the match, Ekitike, denied them the opportunity to return home with any points. In six minutes, between the 72nd and 78th minutes, Ekitike had benefited from assists by Alexis Flips and Ilan Kebbal to make it 3-1 and create a cushion that gave the home side confidence to play more freely.
Nantes manager, Antoine Kombouare, made some changes to try to inject some fresh pace in the side, but it was too little too late as Reims held on for the victory that moved them to joint 9th position on the standings with Nantes on 10 points after eight games.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
