Lyonnais 0 : 1 Lens - Lens top lacklustre Lyon

Posted Sunday, August 24, 2014 by PA

Lens picked up their first win of the new season with a 1-0 success at Lyon.

Lalaina Nomenjanahary scored the only goal for Antoine Kombouare's side 11 minutes in and it was comfortable for them after that, short of a late flourish from Lyon which could not bring about an equaliser.

An away success at Lyon - and a deserved one at that - is a real scalp for Lens and, after defeats to Guingamp and Nantes, should set them up for the weeks ahead.

They rode out some early pressure - Moujamadou Dabo and Mohamed Yattara both going close with crisply-struck shots - before going ahead.

Lens launched a counter attack, Yoann Touzghar led it, Christophe Jallet tried and failed to halt him and his pass to Nomenjanahary allowed the Madagascar international to tuck in.

Alexandre Lacazette was the only man to offer a home response before the break and even then it was a wayward, off-target effort.

Lens went hunting a second goal after the restart and Jerome Le Moigne nearly provided one with a header that was just inches off target.

Anthony Lopes then produced a stunning stop to deny them another, getting in the way of a Touzghar shot which came after a thrilling run from Adamo Coulibaly.

The visitors continued to pour forward and Wylan Cyprien curled a free-kick against the bar, while Coulibaly again went close with a shot that was scrambled away.

With less than a quarter of the game to go Lyon knew they needed to do something and Steed Malbranque set-up Lacazette who was off the mark.

Malbranque was creator again as he freed Yassine Benzia but he was thwarted by Rudy Riou, with the same outcome awaiting Malbranque when he got into the box.

That late flicker was as good as it got, though, and Lens were able to get the win.