Lens 2 - 0 Nice - Lens escape the drop zone

Posted Saturday, December 20, 2014 by PA

Lens escaped from the Ligue 1 relegation zone by pulling off a 2-0 home victory over Nice at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis.

The Pas-de-Calais club were stranded in 19th place going into Friday night's encounter with Nice but goals in either half from Wylan Cyprien and Adamo Coulibaly proved enough to fire them above Evian, Metz and Bastia and into 16th.

So dominant were Lens that they were able to shrug off the disappointment of missing a penalty midway through the second half - Coulibaly blasted over the bar to give Nice some faint hope they could force the draw.

The home side came flying out of the traps and Ahmed Kantari almost scored with an early header, only for Simon Pouplin to intervene with a brave punching save.

Coulibaly then combined well with Baptiste Guillaume to send the latter into a one-on-one with Pouplin but again the goalkeeper was equal to the task.

Nice bit back and managed to hit the crossbar through Valentin Eysseric, who swept up Eric Bautheac's pass before volleying the ball against the goal frame.

Cyprien broke the deadlock in the 38th minute by converting Lalaina Nomenjanahary's pass and Lens took a deserved lead into half-time.

Gregoire Puel - the son of Nice coach Claude - almost equalised when play resumed. Rudy Riou had to make an excellent reflex save to deny him after Alassane Plea sent the striker through with a clever lay-off.

In the 56th minute Souleymane Diawara fouled Cyprien in the box to allow Coulibaly a chance to extend their lead from the spot, but the former Debrecen man fluffed his lines.

Didier Digard missed the Lens goal by inches with a curling free-kick before Les Sang et Or grabbed goal number two to finish their opponents off.

With four minutes remaining, Coulibaly dribbled past two Nice defenders before emulating recently retired France striker Thierry Henry with a smooth finish.