“US Avranches Returns to Victory Against Bastia-Borgo: A Tight Race for National 1 Maintenance”

After five consecutive defeats, the US Avranches returned to victory. This Friday, the Mancho team beat Bastia-Borgo (3-1) on behalf of the 32nd day of National 1. Now, the USA is in 14th, still relegated and suspended, but alive.

US Avranches has finally found the recipe for victory. It was time. Back to the wall, relegation three days before the end of the National 1 season, the Mancho club had to beat Bastia-Borgo to stay in the race for a possible maintenance.

Faced with the red lantern of the championship, Damien Ott’s men were quick to reassure themselves. From the 2nd minute, Noah Françoise opened the scoring, launching his team perfectly on the path to success. Just before half-time, Ihsan Sacko converted a penalty obtained by Nicolas Mercier (2-0, 45′).

The ideal scenario was to continue in the second half, since 10 minutes from the end, Goduine Koyalipou scored the 3-0 goal. The only downside to this quasi-perfect evening was the reduction in the Corsican score on a penalty in stoppage time (3-1).

Thanks to this success, Avranches remains alive in the race to maintain. However, the three points obtained are insufficient to leave 14th place, a position synonymous with relegation to National 2. Because at the same time, two of its direct competitors also won. Villefranche-Beaujolais exploded Saint-Brieuc (5-1) and, more surprisingly, Cholet won on the lawn of Red Star, yet struggling for the climb (2-1). At the same time, Bourg-en-Bresse held off Dunkirk, another contender for Ligue 2 (1-1).

This 34th day when the little ones fought back – even Le Puy, 17th, beat Concarneau, 2nd – generates a tightening in the fight for maintenance, and the last two days of the championship will only be more intense and unbreathable. . “Inevitably, we begin to stretch. It is not very good for our health“, said Gilbert Guérin lip service, at Foot Normand even before the start of the match.

The Avranchinese president believes “that it would take two more points, either two draws or a victory” to obtain maintenance. He risks revising his prognosis upwards after this 34th day. Next week, his proteges will go to Versailles, to a team disappointed at no longer being able to play the climb, and perhaps a little demobilized if we judge by his last two outings (losses against Red Star and Paris 13 Atletico) and plagued by doubts about his future.

Presumably, barring an improbable combination of circumstances, the maintenance will be decided during the final game of the season. Avranches will have the advantage of playing it at Fenouillère, in front of its supporters, against Cholet. The Loire club was in total loss of speed – 6 games without a win – until its feat of the day in Saint-Ouen. Opposed next weekend to a Paris 13 Atletico already relegated, he could take advantage of it to keep the advantage (+ 3 points, best goal average) before going to the South Channel.

While there are still potentially six teams in the running for the maintenance, for only three tickets, the permanence in National 1 could be played on goal difference. In this little game, Avranches is not the best off formation, and the penalty conceded at the end of the match this evening could have its importance in fifteen days at the end of the final day.

But it is perhaps not on the ground that the race to maintain the Avranchinese will be played. Guilty of an administrative error during the first day of the championship – a suspended player had been aligned on the score sheet – the USA initiated a penalty appeal procedure (match lost + 1 penalty points). After the FFF dismissed it, the Manchois club appealed to the Council of State. He will take up the case on May 25, the day before the last match, and will make his decision the following week. However, with 44 points on the clock, the Avranchinese would be almost assured of maintenance, even if they were to lose their last two games.