At least 2,000 claret and amber fans marched in procession from the town centre to Nancy's Marcel-Picot stadium and they gave the team tremendous support.
The fans march on the stadium
Mark McGhee stuck to his pre-match promise and set out a side which was designed to frustrate the home team.There were two changes from the last outing; Malcolm and Fitzpatrick were preferred to Porter and McGarry.The result was a 4-1-4-1 formation with Sutton having the thankless task of being the lone striker.
The team
It was obvious early on that we rarely adopt this defensive strategy and the players looked uncomfortable.Clearances were rushed and aimless and on the rare occasions when Sutton got his head to the ball there was no support.
Almost all of the first period was spent in our half and, for the most part, there was little threat.Thoughts of reaching the break without loss were in the minds of the fans when Berenguer's well taken header found the net.We could hardly complain at the loss.
Plenty of defending in the first half
The second half started with an urgency which had been missing earlier.We earned our first corner and made a few incursions into the Nancy eighteen yard box but their 'keeper had no save to make.Clarkson had a half hearted penalty claim denied.
The hosts made a couple of attacking substitutions, one of them introducing Fortune to the game.He soon made an impact and Smith was called into action.
Full time
With twenty five minutes remaining we switched to 4-4-2 when Darren Smith and Porter replaced Sutton and Malcolm.Before the change had the desired effect Smith had to produce a couple of great saves.The first was a finger tip touch at full stretch to a long range effort and the second was an excellent penalty stop after Reynolds had fouled inside the box.
The team took the lead from the 'keeper's actions and we saw Motherwell in familiar attacking mode.Clarkson fired high with what was to be our only goal scoring effort.Murphy replaced the tiring number ten as the game reached the final stage.
The Slovakian referee brought the game to a close and the fans cheered the team off the park with the realisation that the tie is still in the balance.The second leg is at Fir Park in a fortnight and you can be assured that we will not start with a defensive formation.