There are wins that soothe and wins that scald, and this one belonged firmly in the second category. Stade Rennais led by two, saw the whole thing dismantled, and needed six minutes of stoppage time and a cool head from the penalty spot to salvage a 3-2 victory over Le Mans that felt earned and stolen in equal measure. When Estéban Lepaul rolled his kick into the bottom right corner, Roazhon Park exhaled a breath it had been holding since the interval.

It had all looked so simple in the opening half-hour. Lepaul struck inside five minutes, Valentin Rongier doubled it before the break, and the newly promoted visitors appeared destined for a long afternoon of chasing shadows. Instead, Le Mans refused the script. Louis Mafouta scored twice, the second from the spot, dragging his side level and turning a comfortable evening into a nervous one.

That Rennes still found a way says something about their nerve, if not always their control. Reduced to seeing out a game against ten men after Djibril Sidibé's dismissal, they pressed and probed until the clock had almost run dry, and were rewarded with the penalty that decided everything. It was the kind of result that flatters the winners and haunts the losers.

A blistering start

Rennes came flying out of the traps, and Lepaul was the beneficiary. Adrien Thomasson threaded the pass, and the striker needed only a single touch and a clean right-footed finish to steer the ball into the bottom left corner. Five minutes gone, one goal to the good, and the home crowd settled in expecting a procession.

The second arrived with even more style. Rongier, picking his moment on the edge of the area, let fly with his right foot after Issa Soumaré's lay-off, the ball curling beyond the goalkeeper and nestling in the bottom right corner. Two goals in twenty-six minutes, both crisply constructed, and Rennes looked every inch the side sitting handsomely in the upper reaches of the table.

But football rarely allows such comfort to linger, and within four minutes the complexion changed. Lucas Calodat swung in a cross from the left, and Mafouta was there at the near post to bundle it high into the centre of the net from close range. Suddenly the two-goal cushion was a single one, and the visitors had a foothold they had done little to earn but were determined to exploit.

Le Mans level it

The half-time whistle offered Rennes a chance to steady themselves, but whatever was said in the dressing room failed to hold. Nine minutes into the second period, Le Mans were awarded a penalty, and Mafouta stepped up to complete his brace. He sent the goalkeeper the wrong way, tucking his effort into the bottom left corner, and the scoreboard read a level 2-2 that few in the stadium had foreseen at the interval.

For a spell, momentum belonged entirely to the visitors. A side that arrived thirteenth, with a solitary point and a defeat already on the board, carried themselves like a team convinced they could snatch something remarkable. Mafouta, twice a scorer, was the tormentor-in-chief, and Rennes suddenly looked stretched and uncertain, their early swagger replaced by anxious glances.

The pivotal swing came on the hour mark's far side. Sidibé was shown a red card in the sixty-eighth minute, and Le Mans, having fought so hard to draw level, now faced the closing stages a man light. It was the moment the balance tilted back, even if Rennes needed an age to make the numerical advantage count.

Late, cruel drama

What followed was a long, grinding effort to break down ten men who defended their point with everything they had. The clock ticked past ninety, into the added minutes, and still the deadlock held. Le Mans, backs pressed to the wall, sensed a famous draw within reach and threw bodies in front of every Rennes attempt.

Then, deep into the sixth minute of stoppage time, came the intervention that settled it. Rennes won a penalty, and Lepaul, the man who had opened the scoring, took responsibility. He struck it low and true into the bottom right corner, and Roazhon Park erupted with the particular relief of a side that had been rescued from its own carelessness.

It was a wretched way for Le Mans to lose, having recovered from two down and held firm for so long. For Rennes, though, the manner mattered less than the outcome. A brace for Lepaul, three points banked, and the sense of a team that finds answers even when the questions grow uncomfortable.

What it means

The win lifts Stade Rennais to fourth on four points, unbeaten across their opening two matches with a return of a win and a draw. Five goals scored and four conceded tells the story of a side that entertains and exposes itself in roughly equal measure, but sitting in the early European places is a return their supporters will happily take. The margins were fine, yet Rennes have shown a knack for staying on the right side of them.

For Le Mans, the numbers make grimmer reading. Still without a victory, still languishing in thirteenth on a single point, the promoted club now carry the deflation of a defeat that so nearly became a treasured draw. Four goals scored suggests they are far from toothless, but five conceded and no wins from two hints at the vulnerabilities that top-flight football will keep punishing.

There is encouragement to salvage from the wreckage, particularly in Mafouta's two-goal display and the resilience that took them from 2-0 down to level and beyond. Yet Ligue 1 offers no rewards for gallant failure, and Le Mans must find a way to close out the positions they fight so hard to reach. Rennes, meanwhile, move on with their unbeaten record intact and a striker in blistering early-season form.