Four in a row for Bordeaux

Bordeaux made it four Ligue 1 wins in a row to move into a European place with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Valenciennes.

Bordeaux made it four Ligue 1 wins in a row to move into a European place with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Valenciennes. Despite falling behind to an early second-half Tongo Doumbia header, the hosts hit back thanks to a Nicolas Maurice-Belay winner after Jussie had levelled from the spot. Valenciennes could have left the Stade Chaban-Delmas with a deserved point or maybe even all three, but Eloge Enza-Yamissi missed a second-half penalty with the score at 1-1. Les Girondins coach Francis Gillot changed his entire starting XI following Thursday's Europa League defeat to Maccabi Tel-Aviv and, perhaps as a result, struggled to get started against their out-of-form opponents. Valenciennes goalkeeper Nicolas Penneteau flapped at a Gregory Sertic corner early on but both Ludovic Sane and Jussie came up short when attempting to get a telling touch in what was the closest either side came to finding the mark inside the first 30 minutes. Despite seeing little in the way of goalmouth action in the opening half hour, Sane was gifted the perfect opportunity to open the scoring for Bordeaux with little under 10 minutes left until the break but the unmarked centre-half wastefully headed wide after Ludovic Obraniak had picked him out perfectly inside the area. When referee Mikael Lesage brought an end to a dour opening 45 minutes a goal seemed unlikely to arrive at any point, but with just 10 minutes played in the second half Valenciennes took the lead against the run of play. Jean Christophe Bahebeck forced a corner for Daniel Sanchez's men following some neat skill, and from the resulting set-piece Doumbia headed home to become the first person to a score a Ligue 1 goal against Bordeaux in almost 360 minutes. The visitors' joy was short-lived though as Les Girondins levelled just a few minutes later when Landry N'Guemo's run into the area was halted by Benjamin Angoua and Lesage pointed at the spot. Brazilian Jussie stepped up and confidently slotted the ball beyond Penneteau for his fourth goal of the season. In what was proving to be a far more entertaining second half, Eloge Enza-Yamissi had the same opportunity as Jussie just 10 minutes later but, after Henrique had brought down Bahebeck, the Central Africa Republic international saw his penalty superbly saved by Cedric Carrasso. Valenciennes went close to retaking the lead when David Ducourtioux blazed over from inside the area but, moments later, the hosts went in front for the first time in the game. Maurice-Belay was allowed time in the left channel and he cleverly darted beyond Loris Nery before powering a low shot beyond Penneteau at the near post from inside the area.