Balogun on target as Monaco breeze past Brest to break into top five

[p]The visitors, still in with a shot of securing European football, created a bit more in the opening exchanges of the contest.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/del-castillo-romain/hnER3xyT/"]Romain Del Castillo[/a] was left wide open in the box, but ended up blasting his attempt over the bar. Striker [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ajorque-ludovic/MPlU0iTh/"]Ludovic Ajourque[/a] was the other player to get a shot off early on for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/brest/Cr4VGaUl/"]Les Pirates[/a], only to drag his effort wide.[/p][p][b]They would be made to pay, as Les Monegasques went in front through [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/balgun-folarin/rVZLmUsU/"]Folarin Balogun[/a], with the American striker being the first to react to a failed clearance before beating [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/coudert-gregoire/zHCAxaZn/"]Gregoire Coudert[/a] from close range.[/b][/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/monaco/2PIvr8o4/"]Monaco[/a]’s lead was nearly doubled shortly after the restart, when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/golovin-aleksandr/WSP08bVp/"]Aleksandr Golovin[/a] forced an acrobatic save from Coudert, who sprawled across the goal to deny the attacker from scoring what would have been a spectacular goal.[/p][embed guid="57a73695-d3bb-4d8b-86d1-886e1719c81f" url="https://x.com/Ligue1_ENG/status/2032922104921039164" social-type="twitter" /][p]The visitors, having won their last three, failed to create much in this contest as they finished the match with just one shot on target.[/p][p][b]Les Monegasques doubled their lead later on in the half through Golovin, who reacted the fastest after substitute [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/coulibaly-mamadou/2yi87XSs/"]Mamadou Coulibaly[/a] mishit his cross. The ball fortuitously fell to the attacker, who smashed his shot in from close range. [/b][/p][p]Monaco were able to hold on, which saw them move up to fifth place in the standings for the time being, level with Stade Rennais. They are now eight without defeat and are one to watch in the final rounds of the season.[/p][p]For Brest, their European hopes took a serious hit, as they stay in 10th spot. It is the first time in more than a month that they failed to find the back of the net in a league match.[/p][p][b]Flashscore Player of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/golovin-aleksandr/WSP08bVp/"]Aleksandr Golovin[/a] (Monaco)[/b][/p][image alt="Match momentum" id="5fe5f94f-c98b-46a6-94a0-480578bfd32c" credit-line="Opta by StatsPerform" guid="4530fe58-0d82-4f2b-a3f5-1e1e1918e3ad" original-width="1920" original-height="1080" /][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/brest-Cr4VGaUl/monaco-2PIvr8o4/summary/stats/?mid=hS6UuaT1"]See the full match stats on Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p]