There was no winner on Tuesday evening in Tourbillon. Valais and Neuchâtel played out a 1-1 draw. Trailing as early as the 67th minute following a controversial penalty, the Sédunois equalised just before the end thanks to a furious kick from Joël Schmied.

The facts

FC Sion were determined to take control of the match in Tourbillon on Tuesday evening. The last draw with Xamax at La Malaldière a few weeks ago was undoubtedly uppermost in their minds. The least we can say is that the Valaisans worked hard, and above all tried. 

Just over thirty minutes into the game, the Valaisans were already creating chances through Berdayes (9'), Chouaref (16'), Kabacalman (24') and Baltazar (32'). Whether it was keeper Guivarch's inaccuracies or saves, everyone missed the chance to take the lead. At half-time, Sion seemed to have the match on the ropes, but failed to find the net. 

After the break, the Valaisans continued to work hard, but Didier Tholot's men were hampered by a regrouped, aggressive opponent keen to keep their goal intact. The match undoubtedly turned on its head a few minutes after the hour mark. Mr Sanli decided to award Neuchâtel Xamax a penalty after some questionable contact in the Valais 16-yard box. Fatkic converted it. 

It took more than that to discourage the Valaisans, who pushed right to the end of the game - and rightly so! On one of the last chances of the game, Schmied took a deflection off Guivarch's post and sent the stadium into raptures.

The reactions

Didier Tholot, FC Sion coach

"It's a deserved point. We were better in the game against a team that was very defensive. They were able to thwart us.

"I'm not in the habit of hiding behind this, but I think that some contentious refereeing decisions changed the course of the match. Whether it was the Neuchâtel penalty, a penalty not given to FC Sion, or fouls that could have been called throughout the game."

"We were expecting a game like this. We should have opened the scoring, maybe that would have changed things. It's not a good point, but in any case a deserved one."

Composition

FC Sion - Neuchâtel Xamax 1-1 (0-0)
Sion, Stade de Tourbillon, 5865 spectators
Referees: Sanli; Lötscher, Morf; Rogalla.
Goals: 67' Fatkic (P) 0-1, 93' Schmied 1-1
Warnings: 23' Abedini, 52' Rapp, 71' Schwizer, 75' Guivarch, 76' Fatkic, 91' Chipperfield.
FC Sion: Fayulu; Lavanchy, Schmied, Ziegler, Hefti (83' Ntenda); Baltazar, Kabacalman (83' Rusev); Souza (62' Chipperfield), Chouaref, Berdayes (72' Zagré); Sorgic.
Neuchâtel Xamax: Guivarch; Athekame, Hajrovic, Abedini, Winkler, Balaruban (83' Soro); Aliu, Fatkic; Campos (61' Del Toro), Rapp (61' Bakayoko), Schwizer (74' Hautier).
Notes: Sion without Itaitinga, Bouchlarhem and Bua (injured). Neuchâtel without Hammerich, Nsakala, Ramizi (suspended), Epitaux, Moulin, Ouattara, Roth, Saiz and Ben Seghir (injured).

More news

FC Sion continue their English week with the reception of FC Vaduz on Saturday evening at the Stade de Tourbillon.

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