The former Grenoble player opened the scoring in the first period (27th), shortly before missing a penalty, but he made up for it on the hour mark with two new goals in quick succession (62nd, 65th).
Stade Brestois did not abdicate and shook the RCL after reducing the gap by Haris Belkebla (66th) and Romain Del Castillo (82nd sp)
Undefeated since in their Bollaert-Delelis cauldron since a defeat against Brest on March 5, Racing and their recruits (Samba, Abdul Samed and Openda were starters) continued their momentum.
The Bretons did make a few incursions into the artesian camp in the first period, but the opportunities were Lensoises, through Openda (18th, 40th), Frankowski (45th + 2) or Sotoca, who saw Bizot push back his penalty (33rd).
But the artesian striker had had the good idea to score on his first attempt, shortly before (1-0, 27th).
After the rest, the Brestois, forced to react, showed themselves to be more enterprising.
Cardona's recovery, off target, sent a shiver down the spine of Samba (60').
But Sotoca, still him, knocked out the Bretons, first with a header, on a corner from Frankowski (2-0, 62nd), then by lobbing Bizot, after a long ball from Fofana (3-0, 65th).
Michel Der Zakarian's men nevertheless reduced the mark in stride by Belkebla (3-1, 66th) then on a penalty converted by Del Castillo (3-2, 82nd), but they did not manage to snatch the equalization and therefore let the Sang et Or logically earn their first 3 points of the season.
© 2022 AFP