Beaten in the dying minutes after a quarter-hour miss on Monday, the Valaisans had to show a reaction last night at the Maladière. What is certain is that they showed their character to win the derby by a clear 0-3 margin. Didier Tholot's men controlled the match, not conceding a single shot on target and proving deadly up front.

At kick-off, Didier Tholot replaced Baltazar Costa and Dejan Sorgic with Ali Kabacalman and Yassin Fortuné. The two men put in a very good performance, combining to score Sion's second goal of the game on the stroke of half-time (47th). Before that, FC Sion had taken the lead in the 12th minute after a good start. With no pressure on him, Théo Berdayes was able to get forward strangely easily, before firing a low shot past Théo Guivarch. As early as the first minute, Les Sédunois were already looking dangerous following Chouaref's perfect lay-off for Souza. The number 52 missed the target with 0-1 on the line. For the remainder of the first half, the Valaisans contented themselves with containing any Xamax attacking threat. The Neuchâtel side occasionally found themselves in a good position, but were unable to really trouble Timothy Fayulu, who didn't make any friends at La Maladière last night. In the end, his 67th-minute caution for time-wasting was celebrated as Neuchâtel's best move of the evening.

On the stroke of half-time, Ali Kabacalman made it 0-2 after superb work with his back to goal by Yassin Fortuné. It was the midfielder's first goal for FC Sion. This success stunned Uli Forte's men. Despite a number of attacking changes, the home side were still unable to trouble the Valais central hinge, which had played a solid game. Finally, in the 86th minute, FC Sion were able to do what they had failed to do on Monday: make it 0-3. This time, Dejan Sorgic sealed the win for Valais. Totally deserved.

After two draws on synthetic surfaces in the league, the Sédunois won their first game on this surface. This success, combined with Wil's defeat by Aarau, means that the Valais outfit are now in second place in the league standings, having finished the first round with 18 points from 9 games. Next week (Friday, 8.15pm), FC Wil come to Tourbillon for the start of the second round.

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