Femi Solaja with agency report
Super Eagles forward, Moses Simon, was the hero of the day as Nantes picked their first win of the new French Ligue 1 season at Clermont Foot yesterday.
Simon’s valuable strike from 40-metre was his first goal of the new season and has now help move his side off the relegation zone to 15th after five matches.
Aside the wonderful strike by the Super Eagles forward, his display was a follow up to the fine display two days earlier by compatriot, Terem Moffi whose two goals earned Nice valuable 3-2 win away at PSG.
Before yesterday’s encounter, Nantes had been winless in their opening four Ligue 1 games, picking two draws and two losses.
Both teams showed lots of zest in the first half, but they were unable to break each other’s backline. They went into the break all square, but before Clermont Foot could find their feet, Nantes shocked them with Simon’s winner.
The home side were looking to build from the back through their goalkeeper, but it did not go well. The Canaries won the ball deep in Clermont Foot’s box. Then Florent Mollet passed the ball to Simon, who was about 40 yards away from goal. The 28-year-old Nigerian forward wasted no time, as he had already seen that the keeper was off his line. Simon struck a sweet shot from distance that just dipped into the net.
The effort was all his side needed to seal a win over the home side, albeit Clermont Foot missed a penalty late in the game that would have earned them a share of the spoil.
RESULTS
Premier League
Bournemouth 0-0 Chelsea
Everton 0-1 Arsenal
La Liga
Getafe 3-2 Osasuna
Villarreal 2-1 Almeria
Sevilla 1-0 Las Palmas
Serie A
Fiorentina 3-2 Atalanta
Roma 7-0 Empoli
Monsanto 1-1 Lecce
Cagliari 0-0 Udinese
Ligue 1
Lorient 2-2 Monaco
Clermont F 0-1 Nantes
Strasbourg 2-2 Montpellier
Marseille 0-0 Toulouse
Lyon 0-0 Le Havre
