Ligue 2 BKT: Montpellier climb into the top five as Red Star close in on Troyes

It was a decisive weekend in Ligue 2, with several shifts near the top of the table. Red Star FC continued their impressive start with a narrow win over Grenoble, Montpellier HSC hit stride against Nancy, and Amiens SC finally triumphed at home. Meanwhile, AS Saint-Étienne suffered a stunning collapse in Annecy, losing ground in the promotion race.

Red Star stay in pursuit

It was a family affair at Stade Bauer on Friday evening as Red Star hosted Grenoble in a match during which both clubs supporters' celebrated a friendship which has lasted more than 15 years. But on the pitch it was anything but friendly as Les Audoniens edged out the side from the alps thanks to a goal from the danger-man Bradley Danger - who was on hand to finish from a poor clearance following a corner (72'). It was three points that saw the side from the Paris suburbs secure a second consecutive win following their late victory over Laval, and see Les Audoniens close in by one point off top spot going into Saturday's action.

Nightmare for Saint-Étienne

It was an evening to forget for Saint-Étienne, who endured a humiliating 4–0 defeat at Annecy. Reduced to ten men inside the first quarter-hour following Igor Miladinovic’s red card, the Verts were overrun by an Annecy side buoyed by their return to a renovated Parc des Sports.

Antoine Larose set the tone with the opener, before Quentin Paris, Ben Hamed Touré, and Thibault Rambauld added second-half goals to complete a memorable night for the hosts.

For Eirik Horneland’s side, it marked a third defeat in four matches and left them four points adrift of leaders Troyes, slipping to fourth place in the table.

Montpellier hit their stride

After a sluggish start to life back in Ligue 2, Montpellier are finally finding rhythm. Zoumana Camara’s side followed up their win over Dunkerque with another convincing display, dispatching Nancy 4–1 at the Stade de la Mosson.

Rayan Bamba opened the scoring for the visitors before Elydjah Mendy’s red card left Nancy a man down. Becir Omeragic, Khalil Fayad, Nicolas Pays, and Nathanaël Mbuku all found the net to secure Montpellier’s second straight win and propel them into 5th place.

Amiens turn it around at La Licorne

At the Stade de la Licorne, Amiens finally offered their home fans something to cheer, rallying from behind to beat Rodez 2–1. Ibrahima Baldé’s early opener was cancelled out by Jan Mlakar, before Ilyes Hamache capped a brilliant individual run to snatch the winner. The result gives Amiens back-to-back victories and lifts them to 8th place in the standings.