Ligue 1: St Etienne see off Montpellier

St Etienne followed up their derby victory over Lyon by seeing off Montpellier 2-0 to climb to third place in the Ligue 1 table.

Les Verts beat their arch rivals on home soil for the first time in 20 years on Sunday, ending a run of five successive draws.

And they picked up maximum points on the road on Wednesday thanks to first-half goals from Florentin Pogba and Paul Baysse.

Montpellier, who had won their previous three home league games, had the first decent effort of the match in the 16th minute but Souleymane Camara's long-range shot was off target.

It did not take long for St Etienne to take control, though, and Pogba struck the opener in the 22nd minute.

An error from Siaka Tiene gave possession to Ricky van Wolfswinkel and he found Pogba for a first-time shot beyond Laurent Pionnier.

Three minutes from half-time, the visitors doubled their advantage, with Pogba involved again.

He headed a corner towards goal and Baysse pounced to volley the rebound home after Pionnier had pushed away the initial effort.

It was almost three before the break but Ismael Diomande's spectacular 30-yard shot flew just the wrong side of the post.

Pionnier had to be at his best to keep his team in it in the 54th minute, pulling off a terrific stop from Benjamin Corgnet's turn and shot.

The hosts nearly had a goal back shortly afterwards, Kevin Berigaud just missing the target with an acrobatic effort.

With 12 minutes to go, Montpellier found themselves with a man advantage after Diomande was shown a second yellow card.

They had one big chance to get themselves back into the game with five minutes to go but Stephane Ruffier pushed away Vitorino Hilton's header.