Saint-Etienne have given their chances of qualifying for Europe a huge boost with a 2-1 win over rivals Lyon in the Rhone derby this evening.
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Etienne carved out the first chance of the match midway through the first half as Francois Clerc latched on to Benoit Tremoulinas's cross before forcing a fine save from Anthony Lopes.
Lopes was left helpless for the opening goal just before the half-hour mark, however, as Mevlut Erdinc's strike deflected off a defender, wrong-footing the keeper just moments after he had made a fine double save.
Erdinc threatened again with 10 minutes to go until the break as Lopes missed a cross have come out of his goal, but a defender was on hand to block the danger and let his keeper off the hook.
The hosts levelled things up just before half time when Bafetimbi Gomis beat two men to create space to cross the ball for Alexandre Lacazette, who volleyed his effort past Stephane Ruffier.
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Ruffier was called into action again early in the second half as he raced out of his goal to prevent Gomis from latching on to Steed Malbranque's clever through-ball.
Etienne were lucky to escape a penalty shout just after the hour mark as the ball appeared to strike the arm of Moustapha Sall, and they made the most of their reprieve by taking the lead nine minutes later.
Lopes came out of his goal to collect a low cross but only succeeded in palming it straight to Max Gradel, who gleefully accepted the gift and put the ball into the empty net.
Lyon came close to levelling twice in quick succession as Jimmy Briand was first denied by a fine Loic Perrin block before Gomis fired an acrobatic effort just over.
The visitors should have put the game to bed in the closing stages as Brandao found space on the left and had two teammates unmarked in the middle, but his cross went between both of them and the chance went begging.
They managed to hold on, however, picking up a valuable victory that creates a six-point gap between themselves and fifth-placed Lyon.
Barney Corkhill
