Auxerre in a Blip

A Fly in the Ointment
Perhaps Auxerre will live to regret squandering the opportunity to head the First League. They had to settle for a one for one home draw at the hands of Paris St Germain. The final score was a three way time standing at fifty seven points with Lyon and Montpellier. What will it take for Auxerre to leave the crowd? Perhaps they need to think about avoiding unfruitful draws. Their Romanian striker Daniel Niculae had put them in a winning position when he found the net in the eleventh minute. However as is the case with these things, the joy was soon brought down to earth by the goal from Younousse Sankhare. After that it became clear that there was not going to be any additional points for either side.
Meanwhile the Lyon side managed to edge out a two goal to one win at Rennes which placed them within the mix for the top spots. Montpellier did not really get much going on with a nil to nil draw at home last Saturday. Nevertheless their points scores meant that they were very much still in the running. The Auxerre coach expressed disappointment at the missed opportunity but vowed that they would try harder next time. Let us hope for their sake and the sake of the fans that this strategy pays off. Other teams are breathing down their neck and will not hesitate to take advantage of any open opportunities.
Marseille is within one point of the top three and it adds a new twist to the highly competitive top stops. It will be interesting to see who can break away from the pack and make headway into the pole position. However it must be said that their defender Stephane Mbia was in a bit of trouble with the officials when he was sent packing just a quarter of an hour before the finish line. The ten men seemed to have it in them to close out the match. Bordeaux lost by one goal to Nancy which marks yet another chapter in the move away from the top of the game.