Moses Simon - NantesGetty

Simon's fourth Ligue 1 goal not enough as Reims edge Nantes

Moses Simon’s opener was not enough to help Nantes end their awful Ligue 1 home run as they suffered a 2-1 loss against Reims on Wednesday night.

The Canaries are without a win at the Stade de la Beaujoire – Louis Fonteneau since their 3-1 victory over Brest in a league match which dates back to October 18.

Simon opened the scoring for the hosts with his header in the 14th minute, thanks to Pedro Chirivella's cross.

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The goal was the Nigeria international’s fourth effort after 23 Ligue 1 matches so far this season. He is now three goals away from equalling his best goalscoring record in a league season having scored seven goals at Gent (2014-15) and Trencin (2013-14).

The 25-year-old is the third-highest scoring player in Raymond Domenech's team in this campaign after French duo Ludovic Blas and Imran Louza who have scored seven and five goals respectively.

Towards the end of the first-half, Ivory Coast defender Ghislain Konan scored the equaliser for Reims in the 39th minute and Morocco centre-back Younis Abdelhamid scored a late match-winning goal that gave the visitors maximum points in the 89th minute.

Simon played for 81 minutes before he was replaced by Kader Bamba. A host of African players were also in action in Nantes, which includes Senegal's Boulaye Dia, Zimbabwe's Marshall Munetsi and Cameroon's Jean-Charles Castelletto amongst others.

Wednesday’s defeat left Nantes 19th in the relegation zone with 24 points from 28 matches while Reims climbed to 12th with 34 points after the same number of games.

Simon will be aiming to inspire Nantes to victory when they visit second-placed Paris Saint-Germain for their next Ligue 1 outing on March 14.

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