St Etienne success

St Etienne claimed a 2-1 home win against Bordeaux in Sunday's first Ligue 1 match.

St Etienne moved joint top of the Ligue 1 standings ahead of Marseille's late kick-off against Monaco thanks to a 2-1 win at home against Bordeaux. Romain Hamouma opened the scoring for ASSE before Loic Perrin doubled the lead five minutes into the second half, with Ludovic Obraniak's stoppage-time goal scant consolation for Les Girondins. St Etienne now have nine points with three wins from their opening four games while Bordeaux could not add to last week's win over Bastia and the point taken from the opening day 1-1 draw against Toulouse. Hamouma got the home side off to a great start when he scored in the eighth minute following a collective move which ended with Banel Nicolita crossing from the right and finding the striker in the six-yard box for a close range volley. Benjamin Corgnet then went close for St Etienne with a chance which skimmed the post before Bordeaux defender Lamine Sane headed Ludovic Obraniak's 30-yard free-kick dangerously close, with Stephane Ruffier claiming the ball under pressure. Corgnet then hit the post with a crashing volley in first-half stoppage time as St Etienne took a narrow lead into the break. They soon doubled their advantage, though, when Perrin latched on to Corgnet's deflected ball from Nicolita's free-kick to beat Bordeaux goalkeeper Cedric Carrasso. Bordeaux then hit the crossbar through Cheick Diabate before Obraniak nearly served up a goal from a corner as Ruffier managed to block Jaroslav Plasil's header. Carrasso then denied another counter-attack started by Nicolita and Allan Saint-Maxime before he deflected away Renaud Cohade's shot from the right wing as St Etienne looked to press their advantage. Bordeaux finally hit back in stoppage time through Obraniak, who, helped by Diabate's pressure, retrieved the ball in midfield and raced towards goal, dribbling past Fabian Lemoine before he curled a 25-yard strike into the top corner.