Afolabi sees yellow, as
Auxerre compound Sochaux’s woes
RABIU Afolabi’s Sochaux’s
poor run in the French Ligue 1 continued at the weekend as they
fell 0-1 at Auxerre to remain deep in the relegation zone.
Afolabi was outstanding in
the match as he did his best to keep the rampaging Auxerre
attackers at bay and in the process was yellow carded in the 50th
minute for foul on an opponent.
Kevin Lejeune scored
Auxerre’s only goal when he found the target after 30 minutes as
mid-table Auxerre proved too strong for their struggling
opponents.
The home side could have
taken the lead after four minutes as Jean-Pascal Mignot hit a
long-range free-kick which went just over the top left corner of
the Sochaux goal.
Auxerre goalkeeper Remy
Riou then kept the scores level as he made a superb save from
Nicolas Maurice-Belay, who dribbled into the area before firing
in a fierce shot after 23 minutes.
Romanian Daniel Niculae
led a counter-attack before setting up Lejeune who beat Sochaux
keeper Teddy Richert with a close-range shot.
The visitors had a good
chance to equalise just before half-time as Valery Mezague
controlled the ball before his powerful shot was blocked by Riou
as the home side held their advantage into the break.
Sochaux had a chance to
get back on terms early in the second half when a well worked
free-kick from Maurice-Belay sent the ball bouncing dangerously
in front of goal and Riou was forced to claim with difficulty.
Auxerre went close to
extending their lead after 64 minutes when Niculae was just off
target.
Moussa Narry’s header then
set up Kamel Chafni as Auxerre broke on the counter-attack.
Chafni played in Damien
Perquis but he could not reach the ball. Niculae was in the
right place to take advantage but shot wide.
Narry set up Niculae with
25 minutes to go but his shot was straight at Richert, who also
pulled off a late save to ensure the score remained 1-0 to the
home side.
