Ligue 1 Round-Up: Olympique Lyonnais Win Late, Saint-Etienne Claim Three Points - 7M sport

Ligue 1 Round-Up: Olympique Lyonnais Win Late, Saint-Etienne Claim Three Points

Posted Sunday, January 17, 2010 by Goal.com

Auxerre 0-0 Boulogne-Sur-Mer
Grenoble Foot38 1-2 Saint-Etienne
Le Mans 0-3 Lorient
Lille 3-1 Paris Saint-Germain
Monaco 2-0 Sochaux
Nancy 0-2 Olympique Lyonnais
Stade Rennais 1-1 Racing Club de Lens
Valenciennes 1-3 Toulouse


Auxerre 0-0 Boulogne-Sur-Mer

Boulogne secured a repeat of the 0-0 draw they achieved against Auxerre in the first half of the season, though this was not a match to remember.

Opportunities proved to be infrequent at either end in a goalless first half, though it was certainly AJA who were having the better of things. Daniel Niculae had a firm header saved midway through the first half before Dennis Oliech failed to direct a shot sufficiently away from Jean-Francois Bedenik a few minutes later.

Boulogne struggled to see a significant sight of the home goal in the opening 45 minutes, with Matt Moussilou’s header late in the first half flashing narrowly wide their best chance.

Terrific play from Nicolas Raubel in the second period saw the defender get by several challenges before centring for Jeremy Blayac, who lifted the ball hopelessly over the top with a first time shot.

Late openings were non-existent, so the match ended in a tame draw.

Grenoble Foot38 1-2 Saint-Etienne

Arguably Saturday’s most important game was the relegation battle at the Stade des Alpes, which Saint-Etienne just managed to edge.

Opportunities would present themselves to both sides early in the game, though neither outfit mustered a particularly meaningful shot on goal. Grenoble possibly had the better of the opening stages, but strikes from Danijel Ljuboja and Laurent Courtois both failed to find the target.

Kevin Mirallas would have les Verts’ most promising strike in the early stages, thumping an effort at Ronan Le Crom’s goal that required an excellent block. The home custodian was helpless, however, when Dimitri Payet’s long free kick was not dealt with and was forced home by Loic Perrin, who marked his league return after a truly horrible spell of injuries.

Literally seconds later Emmanuel Riviere should have added to the guests’ cushion, but the young forward incredibly missed the target from close range. It was not all one way traffic, Ljuboja going through on Jeremie Janot’s goal but missing the chance.

Riviere would make up for his earlier miss in some style five minutes from half-time, sending a neat lob over Le Crom after good play from Dimitri Payet, though Sainte quickly ceded their two goal advantage. A head flick from Ljuboja caught Cedric Varrault on his heels, forcing the defender to slice into his net under pressure.

The second half would see les Verts under very significant pressure, especially in the heart of the half, when a series of chances presented themselves to GF38. Great goalkeeping and poor finishing proved sufficient for Sainte to pick up three valuable points, leaving Grenoble surely condemned to relegation already.

Le Mans 0-3 Lorient

Christian Gourcuff’s Lorient side continued their excellent season unchecked after the winter break, smashing the challenge of Le Mans in Sarthe.

After the early blow of losing top scorer Kevin Gameiro to injury, Lorient struggled to make much of an early impression, though they did move ahead when Laurent Koscielny took advantage of some uncertain defending from a corner kick to smuggle the ball over the line.

Les Merlus would remain on top and received the second goal their efforts deserved just before the pause. Ibrahima Camara jumped highest to meet an Olivier Monterrubio free kick, though he succeeded only in flashing the ball into his own net.

Lorient put the game well out of the home side’s reach early in the second half. A long clearance from goalkeeper Fabien Audard started the move, which was ended by Monterrubio firing home an Arnaud Le Lan cross.

There were no major issues for the guests in the closing stages, starting their Ligue 1 campaign for the new year in fine style.

Monaco 2-0 Sochaux

It took Monaco until the closing stages of their fixture with Sochaux to find a solution to their guests’ determined defending.

After thumping Montpellier in midweek, confidence was high in the home side’s ranks, though openings would be infrequent for les Monegasques in the first period. Park-Chu Young and Nene threatened for the hosts, who had to survive a threatening header from Sloan Privat thanks to the excellence of Stephane Ruffier.

Things would not greatly change in the second period, though Sochaux were certainly more to the forefront of the game. A dangerous ball from Stephane Dalmat narrowly evaded Bojan Jokic, who would surely have scored had he made a connection. The former Inter man went it alone moments later, but his shot clipped into the post as it went wide.

Whenever Monaco needed goals in the first half of the season, Nene was generally there to provide for them, and the Brazilian did so again late on at the Stade Louis II, benefitting from a gross error from Jeremie Brechet to strike with seven minutes remaining.

Virtually on the full-time whistle, Nene struck again, latching onto a Yannick Sagbo cross to complete the scoring.

Montpellier 1-0 Nice

Third placed Montpellier bounced back from a chronic midweek disappointment to win their first match of 2010 against struggling Nice.

As early as the fourth minute the home side threatened. Souleymane Camara attempted to send a dangerous cross into the box from the right and succeeded as his centre was flicked onto the post by a defender.

The match was proving to be a tight affair, but the hosts did manufacture a couple of openings just after the half hour mark, Alberto Costa driving narrowly wide from distance and Victor Hugo Montano having a goal disallowed for a foul on visiting stopper David Ospina.

Nice have lost many players to the African Cup of Nations and were inevitably on the back foot for much of this encounter, though losing a goal soon after half-time will only have served to frustrate coach Didier Olle-Nicolle. It was a thoroughly scrappy effort too, Camara battering home after a mad scramble in the box caused by a corner.

Costa continued to strive for a second goal for his side, though he would be frustrated by Ospina, who dived well to turn one particularly menacing drive away. Emir Spahic then volleyed onto the bar, though this frustration did not matter as la Paillade closed out the game easily.

Nancy 0-2 Olympique Lyonnais

Struggling Olympique Lyonnais just managed to limp past Nancy, requiring a pair of late goals as well as a slice of luck to claim maximum points in Lorraine.

Lyon may have been first to show, Bafetimbi Gomis narrowly missing the target after latching onto a long pass from Kim Kallstrom, but Nancy were unjustly denied the lead on 11 minutes. Played through on goal by Julien Feret, the attacker finished well but was flagged incorrectly offside.

OL continued to be lacking in spark, though they were unfortunate to see Florian Marange clearing the ball from the line after Gomis headed a corner kick towards the net. Instantly Nancy replied again, Dia again getting in behind the back four but this time thwarted by Lloris.

The second period would not see much inspiring play from the guests either. Cesar Delgado might have done better when Aly Cissokho’s inviting centre could not be diverted into the net by the Argentine.

Nancy were always something of a threat, and they were again unfortunate not to open the scoring on 62 minutes, when Youssouf Hadji struck the post.

This proved costly as a corner from Michel Bastos’ corner was flicked on by home defender Andre Luiz, whose attempted clearance only presented the ball to Cris, who put the ball into the net.

Immediately after that moment, Hadji shot narrowly wide, but it was not to be Nancy’s evening. And so it proved, as a late goal from Maxime Gonalons, who was the beneficiary of more poor defending from a corner, ensured victory for Puel’s men.

Stade Rennais 1-1 Racing Club de Lens

A mixed bag from Rennes saw them held at home to Lens, who finished the game with ten men.

The first period would not be the most gripping affair. Rennes controlled the first 20 minutes, succeeding in threatening through Ismael Bangoura, who had a shot well blocked by Vedran Runje, but they would fail to take a real grip of the game in the following moments. Indeed, Lens had the better of the closing 25 minutes, though Nicolas Douchez was left largely untroubled.

When Eduardo fired an effort towards the corner of the home net moments after the break, he forced Douchez into a great block. It seemed Lens had maintained their momentum, but Moussa Sow soon redressed the balance, emphatically firing into the top corner after good work from Rod Fanni.

For ten minutes Rennes enjoyed their one goal cushion, but their advantage proved short lived. Kevin Monnet-Paquet was the man who scored the leveller, benefitting from a series of rather frantic breaks in the home box.

A late red card for Lens’ Alaeddine Yahia made things interesting, but there were to be no further goals.

Valenciennes 1-3 Toulouse

A brace of goals in the final ten minutes gave Toulouse a somewhat flattering win over Valenciennes.

For ten minutes this was a quiet encounter, but as soon as Johan Audel’s dangerous centre had narrowly missed Gregory Pujol, the game came into life. Valenciennes threatened again, this time in unconventional circumstances as a bad mix-up in the visiting rearguard forced Daniel Congre into evasive action on the line.

Toulouse responded well. Andre-Pierre Gignac struck from 25-yards and only marginally failed to open the scoring, but Frank Tabanou soon raced onto a sliderule pass from the striker before finishing with a neat dink.

At either end their continued to be a fairly healthy flow of openings, but it took until the stroke of half-time before the next goal arrived. It fell to VA, who levelled matters through Johan Audel. The striker nipped in front of Mathieu Valverde, who failed to gather a free kick from Rudy Mater.

Carlos Sanchez and Fahid Ben Khalfallah would both go close for the hosts in the early stages of the second half, though they each found Mathieu Valverde in terrific form in the visiting net.

Le Tefece only flashed in brief glimpses after the break. Moussa Sissoko was the main spark, crashing a header off the bar on 80 minutes. That seemed to signal the last real chance for the guests, but they hadn’t counted on a terrific conclusion to the game.

Once more Gignac was the catalyst, driving a low centre across the box for Frank Tabanou to be left alone only a few yards from goal to strike. Once more it was the Gignac-Tabanou combination that caused the problems, with the latter’s centre cleared only as far as Sissoko, who smashed home, confirming three points for the guests.

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