Lille leave it late to earn tense Derby du Nord victory over Lens
There was absolutely no time to settle into this contest, with Edon Zhegrova firing over the crossbar inside 15 seconds and Anass Zaroury bringing a brilliant save out of Lucas Chevalier three minutes later.
Zhegrova continued to be heavily involved and worked Brice Samba after Angel Gomes had brought some elegance to the combative action taking place, which was demonstrated by the two teams having a yellow apiece within 20 minutes despite referee Benoit Bastien trying to keep the cards in his pocket.
Les Dogues had a major scare following a shaky moment from Bafode Diakite, but Alexsandro stood up against M’Bala Nzola and blocked the forward’s shot moments before Adrien Tomasson saw his effort saved.
Lens were on top by that stage but struggled to test Chevalier, as Andy Diouf sent a wild strike harmlessly off-target from Przemysław Frankowski’s knockdown.
Zaroury eventually did that with a strike from range just before the break, yet the Lille goalkeeper was up to the task as he convincingly palmed the ball away.
Frankowski had to be taken off before the restart despite going out onto the pitch, with Tom Pouilly being thrown in at the deep end having previously played a solitary minute of Ligue 1 football. In a sign of the continued effort from all involved, Jonathan David saw a shot deflected wide by Kevin Danso before the striker blocked Zaroury’s attempt at the other end.
Gabriel Gudmundsson was then forced off before Osame Sahraoui created havoc in Les Sang et Or’s box, yet the scores still remained level with David’s two shots in quick succession being blocked.
In a dramatic late twist, Lille were awarded a penalty after Danso handled when the ball popped up off Mohamed Bayo. David kept his cool despite a lengthy VAR check and sent his 98th-minute spot-kick into the top corner to earn Lille’s fifth win from their last six matches across all competitions, taking them three points clear of their rivals.
With Lens chasing an equaliser, Bayo then raced forward and squeezed his shot past Samba, leaving no doubt that Les Dogues would inflict Lens’ first Ligue 1 defeat under Will Still.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Alexsandro (Lille)