Saint-Etienne 3 : 0 Lyonnais - St Etienne seal shock derby success

Posted Monday, December 01, 2014 by PA

St Etienne ended a 20-year wait for a home win over derby rivals Lyon, recording an emphatic 3-0 success at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.

The visitors had gone 11 matches since last losing a game, at Metz on August 31, but never looked like taking anything from the game.

Mustapha Bayal Sall's header gave les Verts the lead after 18 minutes and Ricky van Wolfswinkel doubled the advantage five minutes before the break.

Renaud Cohade made the points safe with a neat finish in the second half and Alexandre Lacazette missed a penalty that would have given les Gones something to celebrate.

Christophe Galtier's side nudged in front from a straightforward set-piece, Max Gradel whipping in a corner and Sall winning the battle for it.

His header was good enough to beat Anthony Lopes, giving the hosts a much-needed confidence boost in a fixture that last yielded victory in 1994.

It was also a timely birthday gift for Sall, whose previous Ligue 1 goal came exactly a year ago.

Lyon struggled to find their footing in the game and with the interval looming into view, found themselves picked apart again, this time in open play.

Gradel was again involved, racing clear down the left channel and laying the ball across the six-yard line for on-loan striker Van Wolfswinkel to sidefoot home.

The Dutchman may have scored just once last term for parent club Norwich, but when he finished past Lopes it was his third in the last four matches for St Etienne.

Lyon needed a big response but instead almost allowed their opponents to make further inroads.

Only the crossbar prevented Loic Perrin's header adding to the scoreline.

A lethargic Lyon could not take advantage of that slice of luck and in the 68th minute, they did ship a third.

The defending was poor this time, Corentin Tolisso among those culpable, as Cohade fired a shot between two white shirts towards Lopes' near post.

It was a tight angle that the Portuguese would not want to be beaten from but the shot had too much on it and snuck inside the post.

Lacazette had the chance to rescue some pride 11 minutes from time when Lyon won a penalty, but he produced a woeful attempt, in keeping with his team's performance, and missed the target.