19th May 2017 - Niort (h) part 1

The trip had been on the cards the moment we returned from the previous final day of the season. It had been so easy to organise with Ligue 2 helpfully playing all the final games of the Ligue 2 season on the Friday night. There were no Saturday or Monday late fixture changes to worry about so we could book the trip in December safe that the games would be played on the day we expected them to be: a rarity!
In May 2016, we had watched Metz celebrating their promotion, despite losing 1-0 on the night, because Le Havre had  fallen short of their 6-0 victory target to overtake them. The sight had been a hard one to take but I had convinced myself that the following year would be our year.

Ligue  2 table May 2016
www.lfp.fr

It had all looked to be going swimmingly after 30 games when the lads were top of Ligue 2 and goals from transfer deadline day signing Habib Habibou and Abdellah Zoubir had seen off Reims 2-0 at their own place. However an injury to midfield dynamo, John Bostock had put a dampener on that result.

Ligue  2 table May 2017 
www.lfp.fr

The following week, without Bostock, the team fell to defeat, 2-0, against Brest in the top of the table clash. Worse to follow was the injury to defending rock Cvetinovic during the game and also, later, to hot-shot striker Christian Lopes. In the next game though, it looked like the injured trio might not be missed as the lads went nap, winning 6-3 at mid-table AC Ajaccio. Although the defending was abysmal, it looked like the remaining players would be carried along by their collective team spirit alone. Another injury to Kevin Fortune meant the number of strikers was dropping every week. Unfortunately, the lack of strikers proved costly. Two defeats, at home to lowly Auxerre and away to bogey team Le Havre, both 1-0, pulled the wheels off the promotion bandwagon. In the former, Lens had controlled the play, failed to score and fallen to a late sucker punch. Another setback had been the short-lived return of John Bostock which ended after 63 minutes. Against Le Havre, the lads had started brightly but faded and paid the price in the second half.
Another twist followed with four games to go, the return of striking talisman, Christian Lopez, set the promotion drive back on track. His appearance as a second half substitute sealed a 2-0 victory; Christian scoring both goals. Next up was an unlucky draw against Strasbourg where the returning Fortune, Zoubir and Lopez played like men possessed. After going ahead against the new Ligue 2 leaders, a lapse in concentration resulted in a swift equaliser. We needed Cvetinovic back and the Serbian answered the call. His return to the team offset the loss of Zoubir and the lads triumphed 4-0 in spectacular fashion to set up the final game of the season.
 It was no longer in our hands. Lens were 4th with a very good goal difference and needed Troyes, Strasbourg or Amien to slip up to get onto the promotion podium. It was all set up for a crackingly tense night: and we had tickets for the Marek!