Monaco 2 - 0 Lens: Monaco too good for Lens

Posted Wednesday, December 03, 2014 by PA

Ten-man Monaco moved up to eighth in the Ligue 1 table after a 2-0 win over struggling Lens at the Stade Louis II.

Wallace was shown a straight red card after a tackle on Benjamin Bourigeaud after the half-hour mark, but Dimitar Berbatov gave the home the lead from the spot after 64 minutes.

Pierrick Valdivia missed a penalty for Lens before victory was sealed in added time by Yannick Ferreira Carrasco as they picked up their first league win in four games.

After pushing Paris St Germain close to the title last season, Monaco have made a turgid start to the current campaign, underlined by a 2-0 defeat at Rennes last weekend.

A match against Lens, third from bottom following their promotion from Ligue 2, was the kind of fixture Monaco were desperate for and Leonardo Jardim will be hopeful this victory can kick-start their season.

His side made a decent start when after 13 minutes Fabinho crashed an effort onto the bar before Rudy Riou did well to keep out Joao Moutinho's effort from the edge of the area.

Lens had their first effort on target after 18 minutes when Adamo Coulibaly brought the ball on the right and freed Bourigeaud inside the penalty area before his low drive was kept out by goalkeeper Danijel Subasic.

Wallace was sent off after a challenge on Bourigeaud after 33 minutes with Monaco happy to go into the interval level.

Lens failed to take advantage and the home side hit the bar again after 58 minutes through Aymen Abdennour before taking the lead six minutes later.

Berbatov was fouled by Jerome Le Moigne and the striker picked himself up to strike his spot-kick into the left-hand corner of the net.

Lens should have drawn level after 68 minutes after Anthony Marital brought down Coulibaly, however Subasic kept out Valdivia's strike.

And victory was sealed for the home side Ludovic Baal played in Carrasco who beat two defenders before curled an effort into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.