Lorient put five past UNFP in a club friendly on Monday, running out comfortable winners in what was the latest in a series of pre-season matches for both sides. The result followed Lorient's recent run of friendlies, where they'd won three of their last four games before slipping to a 0-2 defeat against Annecy in May.
UNFP came into this one with a mixed record of their own. They'd lost 1-4 to Red Star and 2-5 to Dijon in July, though they'd managed to hold on for draws against Paris Saint-Germain and Fleury 91. To be fair, the gap between the two sides showed clearly enough on the pitch.
By then, Lorient had been building rhythm through their warm-up fixtures, scoring in every game since early July. The five-goal haul suggested they'd finally found the kind of fluidity they'd been chasing, while UNFP's defensive frailties appeared to have caught up with them once again.
And here's the thing about friendlies — the scoreline rarely tells the full story. But when you're conceding five in a competitive environment, even a practice match, there's work to be done. Lorient had nothing to prove by this point in the window, while UNFP were running out of games to sort things out.