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Nancy vs Lorient. French Ligue 1.

Marcel-Picot.

Nancy 2

  • P Alo'o (36th minute)
  • S Puygrenier (71st minute)

Lorient 1

  • J Aliadiere (50th minute)

Victory at last for Nancy

Image: Party time: Nancy celebrate some rare success

Nancy claimed their first Ligue 1 win since the opening day of the season by claiming a shock 2-1 victory over Lorient.

Rock-bottom Nancy claimed their first Ligue 1 win since the opening day of the season with a shock 2-1 victory over European hopefuls Lorient. Sebastien Puygrenier was his side's match-winner, netting the decisive goal in the 71st minute after Lorient striker Jeremie Aliadiere had cancelled out Paul Alo'o Efoulou's first-half opener for the hosts. The victory is Nancy's first in the league since downing Brest way back in August and, although it is not enough to move them off the foot of the table, they have now cut the gap to 17th-placed Evian and safety back to six points. Lorient, who could have moved into fourth place with a win, remain sixth. Nancy have shown signs of improvement recently, drawing seven of their previous nine Ligue 1 matches while also beating Drouais and Nice in the Coupe de France, and they had the first chance on Saturday when Efoulou tested visiting goalkeeper Fabien Audard in the third minute. Home keeper Damien Gregorini was also called into action early on to save from Aliadiere before Audard was back in firing line in the 18th minute to keep out a thunderous long-range free-kick from Romain Grange. Grange was also involved when Nancy took the lead 10 minutes before half-time, feeding the ball into Alo'o Efoulou who fired home a fight-footed shot from the edge of the area that whistled past Audard. Gregorini's foot ensured Nancy maintained that lead heading into half-time as he denied Aliadiere once again. Aliadiere was proving Lorient's biggest threat and it was the former Arsenal striker who drew his side level four minutes after the re-start with a superb individual goal. Nancy were not to be denied though and, after going close in the 56th minute when Lossemy Karaboue saw his shot turned behind by Audard, the hosts snatched what would prove to be the winner with 19 minutes left. Grange's free-kick led to a goalmouth scramble and Puygrenier was in the right place when the ball ran loose to fire into an empty net and earn Nancy a long-awaited league victory.

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