Brest cruise to victory over Angers to push top-half

Stade Brestois got back to winning ways against Angers at home to continue their push for a top-half finish and potential European football.

It's been a tough few weeks for Éric Roy and Stade Brestois, seeing elimination from the Champions League as well as the Coupe de France before falling to defeat to Lyon last weekend (2-1). But Les Pirates got back to winning ways at a rainy Stade Francis Le Blé on Saturday afternoon, sealing a 2-0 win over Angers and tightening the battle for the European spots in the Ligue 1 McDonald's table thanks to goals from Romain Faivre and Abdallah Sima.

It was however a slow start for the Breton side, as Angers had some early pot-shots at goal via Esteban Lepaul's volley and his following dragged shot. SCO had made a bright start to proceedings, but the hosts would see through the period of pressure helped by some assured defending from Julien Le Cardinal. It would then take a set piece from Brest to open the scoring, as Mathias Pereira Lage's precise corner was swung the way of Brighton loanee Abdallah Sima, and the Senegalese striker headed home accurately past a diving Yahia Fofana (20').

Les Pirates show their quality

It was a key turning point in the affair which saw Les Pirates largely dominate. Ludovic Ajorque would see a goal ruled out - he finished nicely but handled the ball with his hand after Biumla arrived with the challenge. By half-time Brest were firmly in control, and Les Ti'zefs would make it even more comfortable for themselves when Romain Faivre doubled the lead. Les Pirates broke away and Pierre Lees-Melou found a fine opening on the counter attack. Faivre set up Hanin for a strike across the face of goal which was parried back into the path of the Frenchman, who simply followed up with the tap-in into the back of the net (60').

It was then a comfortable afternoon for Brest, who could have grabbed a third late on in the game via Ludovic Ajorque on two occasions. For SCO, Aholou would strike the bar from a header following a corner, but it simply wasn't enough for Les Angevins to get back into the game. A big three points for Brest, who make their push into the top half of the Ligue 1 McDonald's table.

THE STAT: Former Heroes come back to haunt SCO

Former Angers striker Abdallah Sima is the third former player to have scored a goal against SCO (on 1 January 2023 against Lorient) but also to have scored a goal with another team against the Angers club in Ligue 1 (with Brest today), after Henri Biancheri and Zygmunt Chlosta.

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