The last round of the regular season has been held in France this weekend.
The games which were on the last day’s schedule determined classification 3rd – 5th.
Favorites make no mistake. Noisy-le-Sec convincingly defeated Reims (19:6) to confirm the 3rd place in the table, ahead of Pays d’Aix, which beat Montpellier (14:6). Pays d’Aix and Montpellier will play each other again in the quarterfinals of the playoffs. Noisy-le-Sec will face 6th-placed Tourcoing.
2020/21 French League, Day 22
Reims – Noisy-le-Sec 6:19 (2:5, 1:6, 2:3, 1:5)
Reims: Krivokapic 2, Dulin 2, Lambert 1, Caraj 1.
Noisy: Petkovic 4, Marzouki 3, Caumette 3, Do Carmo 2, Peisson 2, Blary 1,Guerin 1, Bjorch 1, Krapic 1, V.Rasovic 1.
Pays d’Aix – Montpellier 14:6 (4:0, 2:2, 4:2, 4:2)
Pays d’Aix: Dino 4, Monneret 3, Gluhaic 2, Gagulic 2, Saux 1, Khasz 1, Djerkovic 1.
Montpellier: Ivankovic 2, Kalinic 2, Mustur 1, D.Zivkovic 1.
Tourcoing – Sete 14:13 (4:3, 5:6, 1:3, 4:1)
Tourcoing: Canonne 3, Randjic 3, Kujacic 3, Rocchietta 2,Avena 1, Grgurevic 1, Krisman 1.
Sete: Kopelaidis 5, Mijuskovic 3, Chandieu 2, Beteille 1, Alfonso Pozo 1, Suaton 1.
Played earlier
Douai – Marseille 10:16
Nice – Bordeaux postponed
Strasbourg bye
Postponed matches
(played earlier this week)
Olympic Nice – Strasbourg 8:13 (2:6, 2:3, 0:4, 4:0)
Nice: Butic 2, Gardikas 2, Cakic 1, Colak 1, Mutambayi 1, Canovas 1.
Strasbourg : Babic 4, Misic 4, Markovic 3, Buha 1, Buden 1.
Noisy-le-Sec – Douai 17:8 (4:1, 5:1, 6:3, 2:3)
Noisy: Petkovic 4, Krapic 3, V.Rasovic 3, Caumette 2, Do Carmo 2, Bjorch 1, Peisson 1.
Douai: Michel 2, Balaz 2, Vandamme 1, Croquet 1, Bouet 1, Vitrant 1.
On Wednesday, Noisy-le-Sec ran over Douai in the postponed match and climbed back into 3rd place, ahead of Pays d’Aix. On Saturday, the Parisians traveled to Reims. They needed three points to stay in position three. Everything was decided after the first half. In the first 16 minutes, Noisy built an 8-goal advantage (11:3) and there was no way back for Reims.
After that, Pays d’Aix and Montpellier faced off in the match that was decisive for 4th position. Pays d’Aix needed a point to retain an advantage over Montpellier. But, there was no excitement in this game. Pays d’Aix opened the match with a 5:0 lead. Montpellier couldn’t recover from that. This game was a general rehearsal for encounters between the same rivals in the quarterfinals of the playoffs. Pays d’Aix will have a home-field advantage in the series.
The most exciting match of the day was a clash Tourcoing – Sete. But the result of this game couldn’t affect the standings, as Tourcoing had cemented 6th place earlier, while Sete couldn’t move from 8th place. The match turned into a flood of goals. The sides were tied after the first half (9:9). Sete built a 2-goal lead (12:10) before the final quarter. The hosts scored three straight goals in the fourth period and went in front (13:12) in the 31st minute. A minute before the end, Sete’s Nikolaos Kopelaidis scored his 6th goal to equalize – 13:13. But, Tourcoing’s Goran Grgurevic closed the match. He scored a winner for the hosts with just 19 seconds to go – 14:13.
Playoffs
The first two teams of the regular season (Marseille and Strasbourg) are directly qualified for the semifinals.
Quarterfinals: Noisy-le-Sec – Tourcoing, Pays d’Aix – Montpellier.
Two games have to be played until the end of the regular season (Nice – Bordeaux, and Bordeaux – Douai), but the outcome of these games will change nothing in the standings.
1 Marseille 20 – 60
2 Strasbourgh 20 – 43
3 Noisy-le-Sec 20 – 40
4 Pays d’Aix 20 – 39
5 Montpellier 20 – 33
6 Tourcoing 20 – 31
7 Douai 19 – 22
8 Sete 20 – 17
9 Reims 20 – 16
10 Nice 19 – 11
11 Bordeaux 18 – 0
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