Rhodés and Nancy met at Stade Paul-Lignon on 18 September in Ligue 2's seventh round, and the visitors took all three points with a 4-3 victory. The match unfolded as a series of chances and responses, with neither side content to sit back once the opening exchanges suggested an open contest.
Nancy struck first through Ilyes Housni in the fourth minute, a moment that shifted the tone immediately. Rhodés responded with an own goal from Yannis Nahounou in the seventh, then found their footing when Raphael Lipinski levelled in the 20th. By then, the game had settled into a rhythm where each side waited for the other to slip.
The second half brought the decisive swings. Pape Meissa Ba opened his account in the 47th minute before Nehemiah Fernandez added a second for Nancy in the 51st. Rhodés pulled one back through Jean Lambert Evan's in the 59th, but Ba completed his brace in the 74th to put the result beyond doubt. The visitors ran out of legs in the final quarter, and Rhodés could not find an equaliser despite several substitutions.
And here's the thing about this match — it was decided in those three minutes between the 47th and 51st. Two quick goals from Nancy changed everything, and Rhodés had to chase the game for the remaining forty minutes. To be fair, the hosts created chances and pressed forward, but the momentum had already shifted.
Statistics tell a partial story. Nancy dominated possession with 60 per cent and registered 120 attacks compared to Rhodés' 85, while also creating eight big chances against three. The visitors took 19 shots on target, of which eight found the net, while Rhodés managed four shots on target from six attempts inside the penalty area. Many shots with one goal means chances went begging, and on this occasion the visitors were more clinical.
Both sides sit on eight points after seven games, Rhodés in 12th and Nancy in 10th. The result extends Nancy's momentum from a 2-0 win over Dunkirk earlier in the campaign, while Rhodés' recent run of results — including a 1-4 loss to Metz and a 0-1 defeat at Grenoble — suggests they have work to do. We had tipped Rhodés at 50 per cent confidence, but this match went the other way, and it was those early second-half goals that broke it open.