France

Ligue 2

Tuesday 15th January 2019

Kick Off 19.00 Actual 19.01

Havre Athletic Club 4 Valenciennes 3, attendance 5,325

16’ 0-1

21’ 1-1

32’ 2-1

34’ 2-2

36’ 2-3

40’ 3-3

67’ 4-3

@ Stade Océane

Rue du Stade Océane

off Boulevard De Léningrad

76600 Le Havre

€12 Admission

Programme, free, 4 pages.

I had visited Le Havre before, when I saw Havre A.C. draw 1-1 versus A.C. Arles Avignon in a Ligue 2 match at 14.30 on Saturday 28th January 2012, in front of 6,524 spectators, doubling it up with F.C. Dieppe 2 U.S. Saint Omer 1 in a C.F.A. 2 match at 18.00 as I headed back home.

In those days Havre A.C. played at the 16,382 capacity Stade Jules Deschaseaux, which is still in place, but no longer stages first team matches. The Stade Océane is only a few hundred yards away, being separated from the old stadium by the railway lines and a main road. It was opened in July 2012 and has a capacity of 25,181 which is far too big for the club in this division, but would be adequate for life in Ligue 1 if they were to gain promotion, especially if the away team had more than the 20 fans spotted in the visiting section tonight.

We were booked on the 11.50 Tunnel crossing from Folkestone across to France, but having arrived earlier than we were expecting, made it on the earlier 11.20 train. This meant we arrived in Le Havre in plenty of time to go and buy our tickets at the stadium and an extra half an hour to explore the town. This turned out to be half an hour too long! As with most ports, it is pretty drab and had a run down feel to it. The only food outlets that appeared open were kebab joints, so we ate at the food stalls outside the ground instead.

At the start of play Havre were tenth in the league table, with Valenciennes in sixteenth place (out of 20). Judging by the amount of goals these two had scored, or rather hadn’t scored, so far this season, then we would have been happy just to see a goal, no matter which team got it, as past experience told us not to expect too much in attacking flair, as a cautious approach is the way French League football is often played out. As it turned out, this was an absolute cracker, with the first half being as good as you would see anywhere, although two poor defences contributed to much of that. The second half was more reserved, but Havre did get what turned out to be the winner mid way through the half with a shot on the turn from 15 yards. Valenciennes had a man red carded with two minutes left, but almost nicked a point with the last effort of the match, but the ball was scrambled clear and the final whistle sounded as the ball left the 18 yard box.

We had parked in the road outside the old ground, as did most of the crowd, which was only 5 minutes walk from the end where we had watched the match, so by 20.55 we were on our way back. It was 165 miles to The Tunnel, so we booked the 01.22 train, as it was unlikely that we could make check-in for the 23.58 crossing. With the A16 closed just south of Boulogne, which meant a diversion through the south eastern suburbs of the town (it did save us €2.60 off the toll road fare) we had settled for being on our booked train, especially as we only checked in at 23.36 (check in closes 45 minutes before departure). However, we decided to go straight round to the loading area and were delighted to see that we had green arrows all the way, so made it onto the 23.58 train after all. Despite it being eleven minutes late leaving, we were still 1 hour 13 minutes up, so it rounded off an excellent day out in Normandy.

With a £30 voucher off The Tunnel price (issued as compensation for their incompetence to run on time a couple of months back) it only cost us £20 each ( Tunnel and fuel) as there were four of us. As around 100 miles of the route each way was on toll roads, it meant we each paid €8.20, although as is normally the case, the last one to get the money ready got the best deal, as they were ‘rewarded’ with the cheaper €5.60 fee when we were diverted off the motorway earlier than expected at Boulogne.