Saint-Etienne (AFP)

Saint-Etienne is advancing slowly: the Greens were held in check by Reims (1-1), Sunday at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium, guilty of not having kept their short lead obtained on a goal by Denis Bouanga.

Admittedly, the Stéphanois put an end to a series of four defeats in a row in the league and go from 16th to 15th place (29 points) but they are only two steps ahead of Dijon (17th) and Nimes (18th) while Reims remains in 8th place (37 points).

They therefore remain strongly under the threat of relegation to Ligue 2.

While his team, deprived of Wesley Fofana, suspended, Loïc Perrin, Arnaud Nordin, Romain Hamouma, Wahbi Khazri and Zaydou Youssouf, all injured, was on the attacking front due to poor animation, Bouanga found the opening by taking the lead from a center delivered from the right wing by Franck Honorat (73).

It is the 8th goal of the season for the former Nîmois, ASSE's top scorer this season.

- M'Vila concedes a penalty -

But in the additional time, Reims equalized by Boulaye Dia who transformed a awarded penalty, it seems generous for a little obvious fault by Yann M'Vila on Dia (90 + 4) without the video assistance intervening .

Above all, the Greens can blame themselves for not being able to take shelter because of a very poor offensive animation.

Because beyond Bouanga's goal, only Ryad Boudebouz, however on the whole much too discreet, managed to push goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic to the parade (57).

In addition, the pre-match was polluted by the sidelining of the goalkeeper of the Greens Stéphane Ruffier, in sharp decline in form, by the general manager and trainer Claude Puel, much publicized in particular by the words of his agent Patrick Glanz, held on Fridays and deemed "outrageous" by the Stéphane club.

His replacement Jessy Moulin, however, perfectly held his place by deflecting a shot from Boulaye Dia (42) and making a good rescue in front of Axel Disasi on a recovery of the head of El Bilal Touré at the reception of a corner (61) .

The consequences of this crisis within the workforce, which is added to that linked to the results, will only be assessed over the days and weeks with in particular the question of whether Ruffier, who benefits from one of the biggest salaries of the club, will replay for Saint-Etienne.

The Greens must react as quickly as possible: they will play their next match on the Lyon field for the derby.

© 2020 AFP