Europe 1 with AFP 11:37 p.m., December 26, 2022
For the return of Ligue 2 after a long break due to the World Cup in Qatar, Le Havre made a successful comeback by beating Bordeaux, allowing Sochaux to become its new runner-up.
Beaten 2-1 in Annecy, Saint-Étienne still can't do it and sinks to last place in the standings.
Le Havre successfully recovered in the French Ligue 2 championship by beating Bordeaux 1-0 at the Océane stadium on Monday and soared in the standings with 35 points, five ahead of Sochaux, new second, who beat Rodez on the same score.
Bordeaux, which remains at 28 points, fell to third place, two points ahead of Grenoble, which lost to Quevilly-Rouen 2-0.
The match, bumped from start to finish, therefore ended with a victory for the Le Havre which, even narrowly, ensures that they start the second part of the season on the right foot.
The Girondins lost big by giving up 2nd place to the Sochaliens who waited until the 73rd minute to open the scoring through their center forward Aldo Kalulu against a stubborn team from Rodez.
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Card for Dijon
The big score of the evening went to Dijon, which crushed Stade Lavallois 5-0, thanks in particular to a double from Bryan Soumaré (30th, 88th) and an own goal from Pierrick Cros.
The Burgundians thus extricate themselves from the relegation zone by passing 16th.
Another bad deal of the evening is in the liabilities of Caen who lost 1-0 at Bastia by conceding a goal from Yohan Bai in the last minutes of the match and just before it was excluded in added time .
The Caennais find themselves 7th in the standings, 12 points behind their Upper Normandy neighbours.
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Saint-Etienne beaten
Saint-Etienne for his part continued his way of the cross by losing 2 to 1 on the lawn of FC Annecy and remains stuck in 20th and last place.
As often this season, the Stéphanois had a delay in the ignition, unlike the FCA which was not asked to punish a feverish defense.
On a first overflow followed by a tense cross, Moïse Sahi Dion emerged to score with a Madjer heel (2nd).
Stunned but not beaten down, the Greens pushed but were sorely unrealistic (Moueffek in the 13th, Lobry in the 33rd and Wadji in the 40th).
On their lawn at the Parc des Sports, the Annecy residents doubled the lead barely five minutes after the restart, again taking advantage of the largesse of the opposing defense.
Sahi Dion, launched at the limit of offside, scored in two stages after his powerful shot was repelled by Saint-Etienne goalkeeper Matthieu Dreyer.
On a lawn in poor condition and in the pouring rain, the Greens were still able to reduce the mark thanks to Léo Pétrot.
With 19 points, Annecy puts Saint-Etienne at eight points and goes back to 15th place, four points ahead of the first relegation players, Nîmes and Rodez.