Soccer-Fofana the hero as Lens come back to beat Lille

Lens were 2-0 down midway through the second half before the 26-year-old Fofana engineered a dramatic turn around, first pulling a goal back in the 67th minute before slamming home the last-gasp equaliser. The tie then went straight to penalties where the Ivory Coast international took the last of Lens’ five attempts and scored to secure a 4-3 shootout victory.

Seko Fofana scored a dramatic equaliser five minutes into stoppage time and then converted the decisive penalty in the shootout to help RC Lens to a comeback victory over neighbours Lille in the French Cup on Tuesday. Lens were 2-0 down midway through the second half before the 26-year-old Fofana engineered a dramatic turn around, first pulling a goal back in the 67th minute before slamming home the last-gasp equaliser.

The tie then went straight to penalties where the Ivory Coast international took the last of Lens’ five attempts and scored to secure a 4-3 shootout victory. Lille looked in comfortable command after Amadou Onana scored two goals in a four-minute spell in the first half to give them a two-goal cushion. They were the first goals for the French champions for Onana, who signed from Hamburg at the start of the season.

Lens’ reward is a home match in the last 16 against Monaco after the draw was also conducted on Tuesday. The match will be played on the weekend of Jan 29-30. (Writing by Mark Gleeson; Editing by Toby Davis)