The Allianz Riviera has seen brighter openings to a season, and by the time referee blew for the interval on Saturday evening, the mood in the stands told its own story. Nice, drifting through the early weeks of this Ligue 1 campaign like a side searching for its rhythm, were made to work for a point they will feel they scarcely earned. A 1-1 draw with newly-arrived Le Mans keeps both clubs marooned in the lower reaches of the table, level on two points, and offers little in the way of comfort to either.

It was a match defined by two goals of contrasting character: one struck from distance with venom, the other conjured from an impossible angle with the coolness of a striker who trusts his instincts. Bourabaa opened the scoring for the visitors, Wahi levelled it for the hosts, and after the break the game settled into a stalemate that neither side could break. For all the noise and endeavour, the scoreboard refused to shift again.

For Nice, a club with loftier ambitions than a mid-table crawl, this was another evening of frustration rather than fury. Three matches in, they have yet to taste victory, and the numbers make for sobering reading. A single goal for, four against, and now two draws bookending an early defeat. The Riviera crowd wants more, and they are entitled to it.

Bourabaa's bolt

Le Mans could hardly have dreamed of a better start. Thirteen minutes had barely elapsed when Jean Vercruysse threaded the ball into space on the edge of the area and Adil Bourabaa did the rest, taking a touch to steady himself before lashing a right-footed shot from outside the box that arced beyond the reach of the Nice goalkeeper and nestled in the top right corner. It was a strike of real quality, the kind that silences a home crowd before it has even settled into its seat.

The goal spoke to the promise Le Mans carry into this campaign. Five goals across their opening three fixtures suggests a side that knows where the net is, even if six conceded betrays the fragility that has kept them anchored in fourteenth. Bourabaa's finish was a statement of intent, and for half an hour or so the visitors looked the more assured of the two teams, playing with the freedom of a side unburdened by expectation.

Nice, by contrast, laboured. The early concession seemed to tighten limbs and cloud minds, and the passing that should have flowed on their own turf came stilted and rushed. Le Mans defended their lead with discipline and no little spirit, and for long spells the hosts struggled to fashion anything resembling a clear sight of goal.

Wahi levels the score

Then, on the stroke of half-time, came the intervention Nice had been crying out for. Sofiane Diop, alive to a breaking opportunity, slipped a through ball forward on the counter as Nice surged upfield at pace. Elye Wahi collected it on the right, in a position that offered next to nothing, and from a difficult angle he threaded a right-footed finish across the goalkeeper and into the bottom right corner. It was a goal of genuine craft, born of a fast break and finished with the composure of a man who has done it many times before.

The timing could scarcely have been better. Level at the interval, Nice trooped off with their belief restored and the Riviera roaring them down the tunnel. Wahi, so often the fulcrum of their attacking hopes, had provided the spark, and Diop's vision on the transition underlined the threat Nice still carry when they play on the front foot. For a moment, it felt as though the whole complexion of the evening had shifted.

That the goal arrived so late in the half only sharpened its impact. Le Mans, who had done so much right in the opening forty-four minutes, saw their advantage wiped out in a single breathless move. Momentum is a fickle thing, and it swung decisively towards the hosts as the players headed for the sanctuary of the dressing rooms.

Stalemate after the break

Whatever was said at the interval, the second half never quite caught fire. Both sides pressed for a winner without ever truly threatening to find one, and the game grew scrappy and disjointed as the minutes ticked away. Chances were half-made rather than fully carved, and the clean, decisive quality that produced both goals in the first half deserted the two teams after the restart.

Nice pushed, sensing that their momentum might carry them to a first win of the season, but the killer touch never came. Le Mans, resolute if increasingly stretched, dug in to protect their share of the points and might even have fancied their chances of nicking a second on the break. Neither ambition was realised. The final whistle brought a draw that felt, in the end, like a fair reflection of ninety minutes that offered flashes of quality without sustained control from either side.

Table tells the tale

The consequences are stark for both clubs. Nice sit fifteenth on two points, a return that will not have been part of anyone's early-season planning at the Allianz Riviera. No wins, two draws, one defeat, and an attacking output of a solitary goal across three matches. Wahi's strike aside, the goals have simply not come, and until they do, Nice will remain uncomfortably close to the wrong end of the table.

Le Mans, a place above in fourteenth, will take marginally more encouragement from the evening. A point away from home, a goal of the season contender from Bourabaa, and a five-goal tally that hints at attacking potency should offer something to build on. Yet the six goals conceded remain a nagging concern, and like their hosts, they are still waiting for that first victory to lend their campaign shape and direction.

For now, both sides are left to reflect on what might have been. Nice will rue their sluggish start and their inability to press home the advantage of that first-half equaliser. Le Mans will wonder how they surrendered a lead they had earned. The Ligue 1 season is young, but points dropped in September have a habit of mattering come May, and neither club can afford too many more evenings like this one.