St Etienne up to third

St Etienne moved up into third in Ligue 1 on Saturday night with a 2-0 win over Bastia.

St Etienne moved up into third in Ligue 1 on Saturday night with a 2-0 win over Bastia. Brandao opened the scoring after 33 minutes and a Fethi Harek own goal sealed the win in the last minute. The victory moved St Etienne into the final Champions League place on goal difference, with Lille, now in fourth, set to play Lyon on Sunday. It was Bastia who started the brighter and Djibril Cisse had the first chance of the encounter as he fired over the bar from 18 yards with nearly 10 minutes on the clock. Three minutes later Cisse had another chance, but he could only head over from Wahbi Khazri's cross. Bastia were made to pay for those misses just after the half hour as Brandao headed ASSE into the lead. Yohan Mollo supplied the corner to the far post and the Brazilian was left completely unmarked to fire his team ahead. Six minutes after the break the visitors had the chance to double their lead, but Bastia goalkeeper Jean-Louis Leca did well to tip Mollo's shot behind for a corner. It then took a stunning goal-line clearance from Drissa Diakite to prevent the lead being doubled. Loic Perrin freed Franck Tabanou and the latter hit a stunning shot which was arrowing towards the top corner before Diakite managed to get his head to it. St Etienne keeper Stephane Ruffier was first called into action in the 65th minute as he did well to get behind Julien Sable's volley from the edge of the box. Soon after, Leca had to save a volley at the other end when he punched away Josuha Guilavogui's effort with both fists. ASSE sealed the points when Harek produced an absolute howler to give them a two-goal cushion. The Algerian defender attempted to pass back to Leca, but could only watch on as he misjudged it and the ball slowly rolled over the line.