French Ligue 1: Lorient moving on up

Lorient moved clear of the bottom three in Ligue 1 as a dominant first-half display earned them a 3-1 win at home to Metz.

The hosts raced into a 3-0 lead before half-time as goals from Jordan Ayew, Raphael Guerreiro and Benjamin Jeannot put them in charge.

Yeni Ngbakoto pulled a goal back a minute into the second half, but the visitors had left themselves with too much to do.

The win sent Lorient up to 13th in Ligue 1, three points above the bottom three and one ahead of their opponents.

Metz were again without Modibo Maiga, the on-loan West Ham striker awaiting a sanction from the club after failing to turn up for their flight to Marseille for last Saturday's game.

The home side might have gone in front after only six minutes when Jeannot got the better of Jeremy Choplin, but goalkeeper Anthony Mfa Mezui came rushing off his line to deny the striker.

The opening goal arrived in the 13th minute, Ayew firing home Guerreiro's pinpoint cross from the left.

Lorient almost had a second a minute later when a Romain Metanire error gifted Guerreiro possession. His cross was controlled by Jeannot, whom slammed a shot against the bar.

The hosts did make it two in the 37th minute.

Walid Mesloub's corner was cleared, but only as far as Guerreiro whose shot from the left angle of the area beat Mfa Mezui with the aid of a big deflection off Guirane N'Daw.

N'Daw had another moment to forget on the stroke of half-time when he gifted possession to Ayew.

The Lorient darted toward goal and found Jeannot, who held off a Choplin challenge and rounded Mfa Mezui to score.

Metz grabbed a lifeline straight after the restart when Gaetan Bussmann's cross from the right found Ngbakoto and he shot past Benjamin Lecomte with the aid of a deflection.

The visitors were unable to build on that goal, though, and it was Lorient who continued to dominate.

Vincent Le Goff, picked out by Ayew, shot into the side-netting while Mfa Mezui had to produced a magnificent point-blank range save to deny Ayew.

The lively Ayew went closed again with a shot which grazed the top of the bar.

Metz had a penalty shout for a handball against Mehdi Mostefa but referee Mikael Lesage waved away the claims and Lorient saw out the match with ease.