Missed penalties from Saint-Etienne’s Wahbi Khazri and Yann M’vila gave Nîmes Olympique the 4-2 shoot-out win that sent them through to face Le Havre in the last 16 after levelling it at 1-1 with a minute to go.
Coupe de la Ligue BKT, Round of 32
Stade des Costières, Nîmes
Nîmes Olympique 1 – 1 AS Saint-Etienne 
Nîmes win 4-2 on penalties
THE MATCH
When the two sides met in the league at the end of October, Nîmes claimed a late leveller for a 1-1 draw, and in their rescheduled last 32 clash with Saint-Etienne on Tuesday it was much the same story – only this time with a second act that made all the difference.
Les Crocodiles dominated and proved the more dangerous side in a goalless first half, but Les Verts upped the ante in the second term and carved out the best chance thus far through Romain Hamouma (52′).
However, the score remained locked and both coaches brought on rested first-choice players in a bid to make the break. The moves paid dividends, with substitue Rémy Cabella testing Nîmes ‘keeper Paul Bernardoni before Robert Beric – hardly in the game at all up to that point – managed to turn the ball home despite already having fallen over (81’).
Frenetic
This gave way to a frenetic final ten minutes that saw Nîmes once again deny Saint-Etienne with a late strike, Denis Bouanga showing perfect control and a deft touch to round Saliba and surprise Stéphane Ruffier with a left-footed snap-shot (89′).
Last season’s Ligue 1 Conforama top scorer Umut Bozok could have wrapped it up in regulation time had he found way past Puffier one-on-one with seconds to go. However, penalties ensued and it was Nîmes who held their nerve as Wahbi Khazri was denied by Bernardoni and Yann M’vila hit the cross-bar before Bozok redeemed himself by making no mistake with the spot-kick that clinched it 4-2.
THE PLAYER: Téji Savanier
Playmaker Savanier’s quality off the bench – replacing Théo Valls just after the hour-mark – did wonders for Nîmes’ play and was the midfielder’s deft long pass to find Denis Bouanga that created Les Crocodiles’ last-gasp leveller. This sent the match into a penalty shoot-out that was kicked off in style with a low, hard shot past Stéphane Ruffier by… Savanier.
THE STAT: 3
This is just the third time that Nîmes have won through to the Coupe de la Ligue BKT’s last 16 – after 1996-97 (a 1-0 defeat to Montpellier) and 2002-03 (0-0, 3-1 on penalties in Lille). Should they win their next match against Le Havre, it will be the farthest the south-coast side have ever gone in the competition’s 24-year history.
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