Having avoided the play-offs in the previous campaign thanks to the Covid outbreak that set a premature end to the 2019/2020 season, Chamois Niortais hired Sebastien Desabre as their new coach, a total unknown for Ligue 2, who had mostly made his name in African football.
Despite being unable to count on Sissoko, their previous season’s top scorer, due to a long-lasting injury, Niort represented one of the main surprises in the initial 15 weeks of the campaign. In fact, despite losing 5, among them a 0-6 away thrashing at Auxerre, they made it all the way up to the 5th spot and even seemed capable of turning into unexpected promotion contenders.
After that, though, wins just stopped and they started leaking like a sieve. In the 5 months between mid-December and mid-May, when the season closed, they only obtained 2 three-pointers, both at home, beating Pau in week 26 and Toulouse in week 30. Moreover, they also failed to score on 12 occasions.
Confidence was thus gone for good and, in the last 8 weeks, as they were sliding down the table, they simply failed to obtain that single success that would have secured their direct survival.
Courtesy of a worse goal difference than Caen and Dunkerque, they only scored 34 while conceding 58, and had to face Villefranche in the play-offs. They lost 1-3 the away match while second-half goals gave them a 2-0 home win and sealed their place in the Ligue 2.
Considering the amount of quality present in the squad, with players like Ba, the striker who scored 14 and served 4 assists, Jacob, the attacking midfielder who scored 3, assisted 3 times and hit several posts, Boutobba, the right winger who served 7 assists, and midfielders Kemen and Louiserre, Chamois should have obtained more than a last-gasp survival.
With more depth in the squad, they could aim at something better in the next campaign.
