“He reacted like a great champion” – Coach Kombouare praises match-winning Super Eagles attacker

The Yellow Canaries powered to a thrilling comeback league win on home soil on Friday, with their Nigerian import netting the deciding goal

Nantes manager Antoine Kombouare has hailed Simon Moses as a great champion after the Nigerian winger scored the Canaries’ winner in the 3-2 defeat of Lens at the Stade de la Beaujoire in a Ligue 1 game week 18 tie.

Moses enjoyed an excellent start to the campaign, contributing a goal and five assists in his first eight league matches and winning Nantes’ player of the month award for August and September.

But the Nigerian international saw a drop in productivity in recent weeks, which coincided with Nantes suffering a patchy run of form.

Moses only managed one assist in his last eight games and was not rewarded for his industry as Nantes picked up a draw at Lille and a win at Lorient before hosting Lens on Friday.

And after Nantes came from two goals down to draw 2-2 against the visitors, Simon emerged from the bench to hammer a fantastic 90th-minute winner into the top corner.

And Kombouare has credited the Super Eagles winger for producing the goods when it mattered to give the fans something to cheer.

“Moses was going through a rough patch, just like the team, but he reacted like a great champion,” the Nantes coach told Ligue 1.

“And it’s a great source of pride for me to see the Beaujoire explode like that. There was a turning point in Lille with the penalty saved by Alban [Lafont, 1-1, 27 November], then we beat Lorient [1-0, 5 December] and now tonight, even though we hadn’t beaten a team in the top five so far this season. Hats off.”

Moses’ strike against Lens is his second of the campaign, with the 26-year-old adding another six assists in 17 Ligue 1 appearances.