Saint-Etienne edge past 10-man Lorient to return to winning ways

Saint-Etienne reignited their European aspirations by battling to a 2-0 victory over 10-man Lorient at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.

It looked as though it was going to be another frustrating afternoon for Les Verts, who had failed to win any of their last seven Ligue 1 outings, but they found the net twice in the final 15 minutes to move within one point of fifth-placed Monaco.

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The last six meetings between this pair have averaged 3.8 goals-per-game, although there was no sign of the net being breached in a goalless first half.

Lorient looked as though they would stand firm until Didier Ndong picked up a second yellow to completely turn the tide of the game.

Benjamin Karamoko then came within the width of the crossbar of opening the scoring with 20 minutes remaining, but lowly Lorient did finally come unstuck shortly after.

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Yohan Mollo was the man to find a way through after a fine piece of individual play, scoring just two minutes after being introduced from the bench.

Former Leeds United man Max Gradel was able to round things off late on to ensure that Les Merlus remain only two points clear of the relegation zone.