The draw in Toulouse

Leave it to ten men to save the day. At least that is what Lens faced late on this Saturday evening encounter. Lens controlled much of the action early on when Olivier Monterrubio had the first good chance of the game but he only managed to drag his free-kick wide when he really should have done better.

Toulouse broke the deadlock when Achille Emana played a neat one-two with Andre-Pierre Gignac, who in turn laid the ball into the path of Bryan Bergougnoux to slot the ball home.

Lens keeper Vedran Runje was called into action to save at the feet of Johan Elmander, before the visitors found the net themselves just before the break.

Later, a poor clearance from Marco Ramos’ cross fell to Monterrubio and he unleashed a spectacular volley which left Nicolas Douchez stunned.

The hosts forced the issue after the restart and Gignac’s strike forced a fine save from Runje, before Bergougnoux almost hit his second of the game with a well-executed free-kick that just drifted over the crossbar.

New signing Abdou Kader Mangane then received two yellow cards within the space of three minutes to ensure an anxious finale for the visitors. Lens president Gervais Martel would later say that the final card was “not deserved”.

But in the end it was new keeper Runje who ensured they came away with a deserved point with a save from Elmander’s header deep into injury time. The Croatian keeper has performed well this season after the departure of the former Lens great Charles Itandje to Liverpool.

I must say that this result may not seem like a great one due to the poor start to the season but it cannot be considered terrible since it is always nice to pick up a point on the road to a solid club like Toulouse. Having said that I still would like to see coach Papin play Kevin Monnet-Paquet and Simon Feindouno a bit more. It was nice to see Razak Boukari get a start although at the expense of the excellent Kanga Akale. Furthermore, left back and former France under 21 performer Lucien Aubey, another fine signing in the offseason, has only seen action in the first two games of the season due to injury and “personal problems”. Hopefully I will have more info on his situation in the coming days.

On another note altogether, what’s up with those drab orange and black uniforms out there today? I know most people don’t like the new candy striper home kits but today’s habiliments were particularly opprobrious….ugggg.

Category: Team News

Tags: Team News

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