Former Nottingham Forest boss Philippe Montanier suffered play-off heartbreak on Sunday night after his Racing Club Lens side were beaten 3-1 away at Dijon in their promotion-relegation final.
Two defensive blunders in the final 20 minutes handed victory to the home side as goalkeeper Jeremy Vachoux twice found himself caught out at the back.
Dijon, the favourites, took the lead before Lens fought back to level the tie ahead of half-time.
From then on Montanier's side were the stronger and looked on course to find the goal that would see them promoted to Ligue 1.
But two colossal blunders in his own penalty area by 'keeper Vachoux handed Dijon with two opportunities to roll the ball into an empty net ending any hope of a remarkable promotion.
No side in the race for promotion to France's top division had to do more than Montanier's Lens.
After finishing fifth in Ligue 2, just about making the play-offs on goal difference, they had to defeat Paris FC and Troyes just to set themselves up for a clash with Dijon.
At full time, the ex-City Ground chief sympathised with his goalkeeper's errors and was proud of what his team had achieved on limited resources.
"This season we have seen just about everything", he said.
"The first period was rather average but we were not the only ones. The 1-1 score line put us in a favourable position.
"We started to get the upper hand after half time, but Vachoux's mistakes are just part of football - I was a goalkeeper for 30 years. Every player can be proud and fought right to the end.
"The season was breathless. The season had started well with a change of staff, nineteen departures and fifteen arrivals.
"We stayed in the race. We have [since relegation] never been so close to being in Ligue 1 as it was one of our most winnable matches."
