Lorient ease past Rennes

Lorient continued their march up the table with Yann Jouffre scoring both goals in a routine 2-0 win over 10-man Rennes.

Lorient continued their march up the Ligue 1 table with Yann Jouffre scoring both goals in a routine 2-0 win over 10-man Rennes on Saturday night. The visitors paid the price for the early dismissal of Sylvain Armand, with Jouffre scoring from the resulting penalty before adding a second late on to earn Christian Gourcuff's side their fourth successive victory. The result lifts Lorient above their opponents and into the top half of the table. Rennes' troubles began just seven minutes into the match when Armand was shown a straight red card for a challenge in the area on Vincent Aboubakar. Jouffre made no mistake with the spot-kick, sending goalkeeper Benoit Costil the wrong way. Lorient quickly took control after that, with Aboubakar close to adding a second from a right-footed shot which fell narrowly wide. Jouffre then released Sadio Diallo on the edge of the area as the home side threatened once more, and the Guinea forward attempted to lob Costil but the keeper was equal to the challenge. Fifty minutes were on the clock before Rennes had their first - and only - meaningful chance of the contest. Romain Danze provided the perfect cross for Adrien Hanou, who fired in from close range but was denied by a superb save from Florent Chaigneau. Lorient heeded the warning and began to push forward in numbers, with Costil making two telling saves to deny Jouffre and Jeremie Aliadiere. But the pressure finally paid off three minutes from time with a fine collective goal. Kevin Monnet-Paquet began the move with a run down the right and then darted into the penalty area before releasing Aliadiere, who flicked the ball on to Jouffre allowing the midfielder to finish things off with a low drilled effort.