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  • Monday 5 October 2009

    St Etienne spring major shock: Ligue 1 reviews

    Sochaux 1-0 Le Mans
    PSG 1-1 Nancy
    Nice 3-2 Valenciennes
    Rennes 0-1 Auxerre
    Grenoble 2-3 Montpellier
    St Etienne 3-1 Bordeaux
    Lens 0-2 Lyon
    Toulouse 0-1 Lorient
    Boulogne 2-3 Lille
    Marseille 1-2 Monaco

    The term 'one-man team' is a harsh one to throw about, but when Yoann Gourcuff is absent for Bordeaux and they lose to strugglers St Etienne it's an accusation that gains validity. Les Verts went ahead early through Augusto Fernandez and Aruajo Ilan made it two before the break. Jussie hit back with a penalty, but Dimitri Payet added a third for Alain Perrin's side in stoppage time to seal a great win against a lacklustre Bordeaux, the first defeat of the season for Les Girondins. That leaves Lyon top of the tree after they beat Lens. Sidney Govou is enjoying something of an Indian summer at this late stage of his career and put his side ahead early on. They rode their luck at times and were indebted to Yohan Demont who failed from 12 yards to level matters and Kim Kallstrom sealed it in the second half. Marseille lost ground too, surprisingly beaten at home by Monaco. Didier Deschamps was left to bemoan a lack of confidence after Nene and Park Chu-Young gave the Monagasques a two goal lead with just a late Mamadou Niang consolation coming back. The season's surprise package Montpellier move up into third place after another win, seeing off a greatly improved performance from bottom club Grenoble. Victor Montano put the south coast side ahead and Nenad Dzodic made it two after less than quarter of an hour. Danijel Ljuboja pulled one back just after the break, but Dzodic hit straight back with his second. Nicolas Dieuze got another one back for Grenoble, but too late to affect the outcome.

    Grenoble therefore remain on no points at the bottom of the table, fully seven points adrift of Le Mans who lost at Sochaux. They had Guillaume Loriot sent off and, though Vaclav Sverkos missed the resulting penalty, Marvin Martin won it for Sochaux twelve minutes from time. Nice, Lens, Boulogne and Toulouse all lit just one point further up and, of those, only Nice managed a win coming from two down to beat Valenciennes. Mamadou Siassa's penalty and Carlos Sanchez gave VA the lead before Chaouki Ben Saada pulled one back. VA's Renaud Cohade was sent off and, within five minutes, Nice were in front through Olivier Echouafni and Didier Ducourtioux's own goal. Lille came from behind twice to beat Boulogne whose good start to the season has tailed off dramatically. Bira Dembele put Boulogne ahead only for Gervinho to reply. Jeremy Blayac restored the lead, but a quick double from Pierre-Alain Frau sent Lille on the long trip home with all three points. Toulouse are having a miserable season and Olivier Monterubbio's last minute penalty snatched a precious point from their grasp.

    Two early goals saw PSG and Nancy share the points at Parc des Princes. Youssuf Hadji handed the visitors the lead on 14 minutes, but just four minutes later, Stéphane Sessegnon equalised and so it remained. Carlos Bocanegra was sent off for Rennes quarter of an hour into their game against Auxerre and Benoit Pedretti fired in the free-kick for the goal which won it.

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