Rennes is indeed back in business. Victorious by the smallest of margins 1 goal to 0 this afternoon on the Le Havre pitch as part of the 21st day of Ligue 1, Julien Stéphan’s players won their fifth consecutive victory in the championship. The only scorer of the match, Benjamin Bourigeaud (60th) gave his team an eighth success in all competitions which allowed Stade Rennais to temporarily move up to seventh place in the championship with 31 points.
In full revival since the end of December and a victorious trip to Reims (3-1), Stade Rennais started this meeting with many certainties in mind and the ambition to extend its current good series. Faced with a Le Havre team also in a good spiral and which remained a very convincing performance in the championship in Monaco (1-1), the Bretons came very close to the penalty at the start of the match, the post on an involuntary header from Arthur Theate (12th) then Steve Mandanda (16th) in front of Mohamed Bayo annihilating two very heated situations in favor of Luka Elsner’s men.
Bourigeaud extends the series
Tossed around by a playful and very impactful Le Havre team, the Rennais had to wait until the half-hour mark to finally create a semblance of an opportunity, Désiré Doué (31st) sending his curling shot from the right well above the crossbar by Arthur Desmas. Very little danger in the first period despite possession of the ball clearly in their favor (54.2%), the visitors left with better intentions after returning from the locker room, the very discreet Arnaud Kalimuendo (48th) finally managing to show himself on a tense shot pushed back on its crossbar by Le Havre goalkeeper Arthur Desmas.
After two unsuccessful attempts on the Normandy goal, Julien Stéphan’s players ended up finding the opening on their third clear opportunity, Benjamin Bourigeaud taking advantage of an excellent header combination between Guéla Doué and Martin Terrier to deceive Arthur Desmas from a nice cross shot between the legs of the Norman goalkeeper (60th, 1-0).
The difference made, Steve Mandanda’s teammates did not experience a peaceful end to the match, the fault of Le Havre determined to at least snatch a point from the draw in front of its thousands of supporters. Cornered in its own camp for the last ten minutes, Stade Rennais nevertheless held on, pocketing a precious eighth success in the league at the cost of constant resistance.