St Etienne vs Toulouse. French Ligue 1.
Geoffroy-GuichardAttendance27,581.
Sunday 5 October 2014 17:39, UK
Wissam Ben Yedder scored the only goal of the game as Toulouse moved above St Etienne in the Ligue 1 standings after a 1-0 win at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.
Ben Yedder tucked home in the 21st minute and although the home side had chances to level, most notably when Benjamin Corgnet struck the crossbar just after the half hour, Toulouse held on and are now unbeaten in four games.
It is a different story for Les Verts, who were third in the table after beating Lens a couple of weeks ago but are now winless in their last four in all competitions.
In an open first half, Toulouse had the first opportunity as Tongo Doumbia fired wide after being set up by Jean-Daniel Akpa-Akpro, who dribbled past Fabien Lemoine before teeing up the Malian.
St Etienne also went close as Ricky van Wolfswinkel's shot was parried by Zacharie Boucher into the path of Corgnet, who missed the target with the follow-up.
It proved a crucial miss as Toulouse took the lead, with Akpa Akpro releasing Aleksandar Pesic, whose first time pass found Ben Yedder to shoot low past Stephane Ruffier.
St Etienne were nearly level 10 minutes later as Corgnet's vicious strike from Franck Tabanou's cross came back off the bar.
It was a lucky escape for the visitors, who found themselves on the back foot for much of the second half as St Etienne pushed hard for a leveller.
Gradel saw his curling free-kick well saved by Boucher and the former Leicester and Leeds striker was inches wide of the left hand post with a 25-yard drive.
Renaud Cohade also narrowly missed the target with his volley in the closing stages as Toulouse held on for an impressive away victory.
