After 12 matches without defeat, Rodez travels to Reims, Saturday March 14 at 2 p.m., for a prestigious poster which can allow him to display new ambitions. The blood and gold have the possibility of returning to the level of a championship leader and making an impression in the race for the play-offs.
The decor is inspiring. By going to the city of coronations, Rodez can dream of a glorious end to the season. Not to the point of coveting the throne of Ligue 2, inaccessible, but participation in the play-offs is an increasingly possible conquest for the blood and gold, who have built over the weeks a reputation as the new terror of the kingdom, thanks to their current series of 12 matches without defeat.
Before going to Reims, Didier Santini and his faithful invited themselves into the race for the top 5 and even have the possibility of returning to the level of a relegated from Ligue 1, who looks more and more like one of their direct competitors. And this even if the Ruthenian coach is still reluctant to publicly recognize that the maintenance objective can be revised upwards. “I am always humble. You have to stick to what you know how to do, not take yourself for others”he warned.
“Enjoy”
It is true that his troop does not show a margin that would allow the slightest relaxation, but it can still turn to a more prestigious fight than that for maintenance, with the hope of experiencing an extended spring, as was the case two years ago. The road is still long and arduous to achieve this. On the one hand because many competitors, and not the least, are also concerned by this objective. And on the other hand because after this tough trip, the Raf will still have to contend with duels against Troyes and Saint-Étienne, the first two, but also to come up against Amiens, Laval and Bastia, in search of points for their survival in Ligue 2.
While waiting to know how far their good performances can take them, the Ruthenois have at least given themselves the right to consider the future with relish. This involves the excitement of playing thrilling matches, starting with this afternoon. “We are going to go to a beautiful stadium, facing a legendary clubunderlined Didier Santini. I told the players that we will not take away the fact of having 40 points with 8 days to go, which few people imagined. Now enjoy.”
“We will have to play a perfect match”
The rest will be even more to the taste of Jordan Mendes and his partners if they manage to prove today against one of the leaders of the championship all the progress displayed recently. More mature, more solid like their last three matches without a single goal conceded, the blood and gold are preparing to pass a real test. “We will have to play a perfect match, be strong defensively, work well together, be intelligentlisted Didier Santini. We are facing a very good team, which unfortunately remains in a lot of draws, but without much success, because its expected goals are high.”
The Aveyron clan can always reassure itself by remembering that, apart from the missteps in Saint-Etienne (0-4), in August, and in Montpellier (0-2), in October, at a time when collective benchmarks were not as asserted, it is doing rather well against the big guns of Ligue 2. “It gives you confidence, just like the good match we had against them in the first leg (2-2)approved the coach. In all these matches against teams who can score at any time, with players who have a great athletic and technical level, we learn and that helps us progress.”
So much so that Rodez now covets the same objectives as his prestigious opponents.
