Despite the absence of their captain Cyril Duchassin, the Angels of Nice traveled to Villeneuve-la-Garenne with the desire to achieve a positive result against the Fous du Bitume. A breakdown of the conveyor belts at Nice airport led to the absence of several players’ bags upon arrival at Orly.
After handling administrative duties, shuttling between the restaurant, hotel, and airport, and finally, thanks to the locals agreeing to delay the match by an hour, the evening ended tragically at the Fernand Schwartz gymnasium for the new captain Manu Milano and his teammates.
Following these mishaps and with a shortened warm-up, the Angels were caught off guard and conceded two quick goals in the first four minutes by Edouard Clisson and Camille Vincent. With the team from Nice finally waking up, a more balanced phase of play set in, and logically, Charles André Outin reduced the score following an accurate pass from Willy Valaize in the 14th minute.
This hope was short-lived as the Parisian team capitalized on Azurian fouls, which indeed were a significant weakness of the team, to score twice in power play through E. Clisson, who completed a hat-trick. Lastly, continuing this gloomy day, a fifth goal that seemingly never crossed the line was awarded to the locals just before halftime, despite their captain Fred Corbeil informing the referees that the goal was not valid.
In the second half, the Angels showed determination not to give up and scored after 14 seconds in a lovely exchange between Valaize and goal scorer Damien Fontaine. Despite their attempts, they couldn’t make the Fous du Bitume doubt any further, who took advantage of more penalties from Nice to secure their lead. As the downpour hit Nice and its hills, it was a deluge of goals that we witnessed, leading to a final score of 9-2.
