August 2022: Lens v Rennes

 Unbelievably, Lens had briefly gone top. Even so, they were third behind Paris and Marseille: not bad company. 

The writing had been on the wall when Doucoure went to Crystal Palace and Clauss ended up at Marseille. The €40 odd million was spent upon a range of players: Brice Samba arrived after helping Nottingham Forest get into the Premiership after a Wembley Playoff penalty shootout. Jimmy Cabot arrived to replace Clauss from Angers, the Poles: Lukasz Poreba and Adam Buksa arrived from America and Poland. Salis Abdul Samed arrived from Clermont to replace the Douc and Belgium starlet Lois Openda arrived from Bruges after setting the Dutch top league alight, not literally, with 28 goals for Vitesse Arnhem in 68 appearances. 

The big surprise was that superstar Seko Fofana had not gone but until the transfer window closed, nothing was certain. The rumours of English clubs sniffing about were numerous!

In the first three games: the vastly underrated Sotoca had grabbed a hat-trick against last season's bogey boys, Brest (3-2), a heatwave ruined any chance of football at AC Ajaccio (0-0) before Monaco were absolutely hammered 4-1 in the Principality. 

Tonight's opponents had jumped ahead of Lens in the last two seasons and the lads were definitely out for revenge. Of the new forwards, Openda has scored his first goal of the season at Monaco but Polish wonderboy, from MLS outift New England Revolution, had been injured in the Summer, representing Poland, and hadn't played for his new club. 

This game, for me, was to be the first of two consecutive games and to say I was delighted to be getting to two games was an understatement. After a relaxing night spent with Alex in Lille, it was off to Cambrai to see the amazingly friendly but absolutely mental folk of Cambrai. 

Nico was kind enough, once again to put me up, and after a tasty meal at a new pinza restaurant (amazingly like a pizza restaurant) there was to be no early bed for me as the crew took great delight in dragging me to another nightclub: the private club B19. My hopes were raised when the bouncers told us they didn't like to admit people wearing shorts. But sadly my chums weren't to be denied their chance to watch me squirm as they waved us in, patting everyone on the back and bonsoiring the lot of us! 

Not my kind of music

My first (and lasting) impression was of a nightclub for my mum and dad (even though they can't stand any non-classical music). The number of over 60s and 70s on the dance floor was disturbing, especially as the insisted on Salsaing their way though various dj mashups of French hits. I was however impressed with Pipo's mum, who, well into her 70s, seemed to be having a whale of a time and was the life and soul of the party. Delighted that I had told her she was a fashion-setter for wearing odd shoes, she decided to drag me onto the dance floor. However, my lack of connection with the music made me look like the worst of dad dancers and she soon gave up on me. Things went from bad to worse when a vodka platter appeared, complete with glasses, orange juice, coca-cola and ice cubes. Remembering how things had gone downhill when vodka was introduced at a nightclub in Boulogne, I managed to convince Yannick to extract himself from the corner he had hidden himself in and so, at the early evening hour of 2am (for Cambrai), we wandered through the busy streets of the beautiful town. 

The others followed at 5am.

In the morning, I felt reasonably sprightly. The sun was shining and it was matchday! Although it was a 9pm kick-off, we set off just after midday for Pierre's, where Yannick took the opportunity to peruse through our host's collection of 80s Lens shirts. Eventually, he decided upon a rather fetching yellow Europe 1 1985 shirt.
 

Shirt chosen, it was time to make our way to La Loco for a leisurely lunch and drink. A venue that we hadn't visited in quite some time, it was good to be back. Both myself and Alex decided upon the healthy option of Merguez sausage baguette and chips while our French counterparts decided upon salads. We are class acts indeed!

 Next, it was Chez Muriel, and I was delighted to see that there were a good number of visiting fans who had beaten the blockade the police had erected around the town. In their wisdom, they had decided that the thousand or so visiting Rennes fans were likely to run amok around the town centre so had decided they would escort them straight to the stadium. I'm glad to say, this failed completely. What a nice bunch they were, chatting away with everyone, and a great reflection upon their region.

It was also great to see our old mate Kim the Kortrijk fan, who was finally making his first visit to Lens, accompanying Jeremie. When I asked them, where they would be standing, Jeremie quickly informed me they were meeting other friends in the Marek! I tried not to take it too personally.

There was just time for the traditional (ish?) lighting of the flare that had been held by a rather nervous child. THe youngster seemed only too happy to hand the industrial-sized firework over to any adult that would take it.

It was also good to see that shorts and miner's helmets were still in fashion....

Inside the ground, there, directly in front of us, were Kim, Jeremie and and all his friends. 

The game itself was a bit of an anti-climax, yet the Marek, ably supported and complemented by the Delacourt and Trannin stands roared the team on. There certainly had been an increased volume to the ground as the lower levels of these two had been declared as standing areas. They jumped, bounced and sang as loudly as the Marek, despite the paucity of chances. 

At half time there was an appearance from Rennes' new €20million signing, Kalimuendi. The player had been omitted from the visiting team sheet and gave a heart-felt thanks to the Lens fans for their support over the last two years. Everyone hoped that Openda, signed for half that, would prove that Kali would not be missed. Nevertheless, his words were well received: a really decent bloke!

In the second half, it was as if a switch had been flicked. Lens set about their illustrious visitors. Chances started to be created by the home side but there was no way anyone could have anticipated the quality of Fofana's strike.

This was followed by a great piece of trickery from Openda. We were in dreamland, Jeremie and co were on the floor, while Kim could only stand and scream his respectful delight. 

However, Rennes showed their class, with a string of chances that either rolled past the post or were dealt with by the impressive Samba in the Lens goal. Just when we thought it was going to be our day, Rennes pulled one back. The crowd whistled and shouted their way through the final minutes before the referee blew the final whistle. 

Lens had won 2-1 and in the process leapt to the top of the league... for a few hours at least!

The team engulfed Seko Fofana as the fans showed their appreciation for the captain's performance. We could only hope that it wasn't a sign he was on the way out.

There would be a few days to recover before my final game of the trip against Lorient.

Watch the youtube video: https://youtu.be/Jq1rbCB3XXQ

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