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Lyon claim first win of the season away to Rennes / Photo: © AFP
Lyon claim first win of the season away to Rennes
Seven-times French champions Lyon ended their wait for a first Ligue 1 victory of the season by beating 10-man Rennes on Sunday as fellow strugglers Clermont and Metz also won.
Irishman Jake O'Brien rose highest to nod in the goal that gave Lyon their first win this term on 67 minutes, after Rennes had Guela Doue sent off for a dangerous tackle just five minutes into the tie.
Faced with ten men, Lyon struggled to break down the 12th-placed side and a tetchy first half ended on a sour note with an altercation between Rennes coach Bruno Genesio and a member of the Lyon staff.
The second half was closely contested but offered up few big chances, until the decisive moment of the match arrived 22 minutes after the break.
Sael Kumbedi crossed into the box following a corner for the away side and he found the head of O'Brien who finally gave Lyon the breakthrough for which they had been searching.
Despite some nervy moments at the end, when 'keeper Anthony Lopes came to his side's rescue, Fabio Grosso's men managed to cling on and see out their very first win of the Ligue 1 season.
Lyon remain bottom of the pile, but the result pushes them to seven points and will doubtless be a great weight off the mind of Grosso and his charges.
Earlier on Sunday, Lille moved up into fourth place after a 1-1 draw at home to Toulouse. Leny Yoro opened the scoring for the hosts after half an hour, only for the 2021 league champions to be pegged back by Thijs Dallinga, who got his third in three matches after netting against Le Havre and Liverpool.
- The strugglers win -
Lyon's fellow bottom-of-the-table strugglers Clermont also got an important win at home versus Lorient, who now sit just above them in 16th spot.
Shamar Nicholson's penalty in the 69th minute was enough to seal his side's second win of the season, lifting them to nine points and one win from safety.
Metz escaped from the relegation play-off position with a 3-1 home victory against Nantes. Kevin Van Den Kerkhof gave them an early lead, but Moses Simon cancelled it out with 12 minutes gone.
Simon Elisor restored the hosts' lead just before the half-hour mark and Joel Asoro secured the three points in the 85th minute as Metz moved up to 11th place.
M. Andrade--JDB
