Sidi Keita and Belhadj shine….Lens wins!

By: Jay | January 17th, 2008

In qualifying easily for the semi-finals of the League Cup , which will now bring on Le Mans, the Lensois have not only advanced in the competition but the form also seems to have returned a bit to the beleaguered Lensois. The joie de vivre seemed to have returned and a bit of spirit along with three goals provided hope of future success in Ligue 1.

Without trying to sound overly excited, indeed, the blood and gold have a long and difficult road to traverse in order to avoid disaster, wednesday’s match at the Stade Félix-Bollaert may have demostrated to Lens and their supporters that they indeed were not dead and Ligue 2 was not the inevitable fate awaiting come September morn.

Yohan Demont scored on a wonderful scissors kick following a left side corner deflected by Brazilian Vitorino Hilton after 15 minutes of play.

Toifilou Maoulida then took advantage of keeper Damien Gregorini’s missed clearance to score the Lensois’ second from long range a minute before the break. The goal was absolutey amazing and whipped the 18,000 home fans into a frenzy.

Maoulida would later feature as catalyst for the third and final goal when he recieved a perfect touch pass from Seid Khiter as he raced into the box and was then stupidly shoved to the ground.

Olivier Monterrubio would convert by netting a shaky penalty under the bar past Gregorini at the 58th minute.

As anyone who watched wednesday’s match can attest Sidi Keita was clearly the heart and soul of the midfield and ultimately the whole squad. He virtually shut down every attack from his central defensive position. Moreover, the scintillating Malian nearly scored the fourth goal of the match with a beautiful long range strike that sailed just wide of the post. Much of the energy from the Lensois from the start was inspired by Keita’s spirited play. Hopefully this will convince coach Jean-Pierre Papin to dislodge the very popular but largely ineffective fan favorite Nenad Kovacevic from his post.

Nadir Belhadj was not to be left behind as his sparkling runs down the lines wreaked havoc throughout the porous Nancy defense. It makes one think what kind of form the young Algerian would have been in at this point if he had not been relegated to the bench of the arrogant Alain Perrin’s Lyon. Lens can count on many more fine matches from the “galactic man” before his Lens career is finished.