Guy Roux's return to French football was a happy one however his RC Lens side had to come from behind to oust Ukrainian opponents FC Chornomorets Odesa and advance to the 2nd qualifying round of the UEFA Cup.
A capacity crowd was on hand to see if the veteran coach would lend his magic touch to the home side and take Lens a step closer to the UEFA Cup.
However, those supporters were in for a rude awakening as Oleh Venhlinskiy stole in unmarked at the far post in the tenth minute to meet Serhiy Shyshchenko's bouncing free kick and nod in the opening goal.
Fortunately for the hosts, an equaliser arrived 8 minutes later when defender Adama Coulibaly headed Olivier Monterrubio's corner past Vitaliy Rudenko.
With the visitors still leading by virtue of the away goal the onus was on Lens to attack and new transfers Julien Sable and Akale combined delightfully to edge the tie in the hosts' favour.
Sable found Akale with a fine raking pass which the forward controlled before skipping past 3 defenders and Rudenko and finishing precisely.
The Ivorian international struck again18 minutes from time when he pounced on a clever pass by Bonaventure Kalou, who himself only joined the club from Paris Saint-Germain FC last Wednesday, to score his 2nd goal of the evening.
"It was interesting because we conceded the 1st goal and had to score twice to go through," mentioned Roux. "My players did not have given up though inspite of a poor 1st 20 minutes."
25 07 2007
Bonaventure Kalou has finalised a £1 million move from Paris St. Germain to Lens.
The Ivory Coast international lost his place in the PSG side after Paul Le Guen had taken charge midway through last season.
He still attracted the attention of several clubs over the summer and was linked with the likes of Toulouse and Portsmouth.
However, the 29 year old forward has decided to join his former Auxerre coach Guy Roux at Lens, and is even understood to have taken a pay cut.
Kalou has agreed a 3 year deal with Lens and will compete with compatriots Kanga Akale and Aruna Dindane for a place in the side.
All 3 will probably be selected in the Ivory Coast team for next year's African Cup of Nations, however reports say Kalou has agreed not to travel to the tournament in Ghana.
