Nigerian striker, Josh Maja, returned to scoring ways for Bordeaux in their 2-1 win over Sochaux in a French Ligue II encounter on Friday, at the Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux.

Maja opened the scoring for Bordeaux in the 30th minute. Zurab Davitashvili made it 2-0 for the hosts three minutes later. Franck Kanoute pulled one back for the visitors in the 59th minute. However, despite a red card to Delaurier Chaubet in the 74th minute, the hosts held on for the win. 

The goal for Maja is his eighth of the season and his first in six games. He last found the back of the net against Metz in a 2-0 win in October. The win sees Bordeaux retain their second spot on the table, one point ahead of Sochaux and five points behind log leaders Le Havre as they intensify their push for a return to the topflight. 

Maja is currently the league’s top scorer with eight goals tied with St Etienne’s Jean-Philippe Krasso and Sochaux’s Ibrahim Sissoko.

Reacting to the win, Girondins coach, David Guion, says the win was important for the confidence of the players which had been dampered after their 1-0 loss to log leaders Le Havre on Monday.

“I don’t know, but we feel that the boys needed this success to find a little more serenity. This is perhaps what explains the start of our match, with the first action in particular ” Afterwards, we put the game down and we found good things in our positional game. It was important to win, to take back this second place right away because the boys were really disappointed to have abandoned it last Monday.”