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LFP: Super-sub Cheyrou shoots Rennes up to second place

Nancy’s Jean Calve, bottom, vies for the ball with Saint Etienne’s Blaise Matuidi during their French Ligue 1 match in Tomblaine, France, op18-081202-a4.jpgn Sunday. PHOTO: AFP

Former Liverpool midfielder Bruno Cheyrou scored the only goal as unheralded Rennes beat Paris Saint Germain 1-0 on Sunday to move into second place in French Ligue 1.

Cheyrou came off the bench to replace the injured Stephane Mbia and hit the winner on the stroke of halftime to extend Rennes’ unbeaten run to 14 matches, with their last defeat coming back in August.

Rennes are five points behind leaders, and defending champions Lyon, with their victory allowing them to replace Marseille, who followed up their midweek Champions League elimination with a frustrating 0-0 draw at Toulouse, in second place.

Eric Gerets’ Marseille bossed possession in the first half and came closest to breaking the deadlock when Mamadou Niang’s close-range effort from Ronald Zubar’s flick-on was kept out by Toulouse keeper Cedric Carrasso.

Marseille’s frustration mounted as the game wore on, with Gerets introducing Mamadou Samassa and Mathieu Valbuena in place of Hatem Ben Arfa and Karim Ziani just before the hour mark in a bid to bolster his side’s attacking impetus.

Saint Etienne brought a seven-game losing streak in the league to an end with a 2-1 victory at Nancy that fired them out of the relegation zone.

The visitors took the lead after just seven minutes when on-loan Portuguese midfielder Paulo Machado curled a 30m free-kick past home keeper Gennaro Bracigliano.

Three minutes before the break, Les Verts made their first-half dominance count when David Gigliotti slammed home after Bracigliano had saved from France international striker Bafetimbi Gomis.

Things took a turn for the worse for the home side when Bracigliano was dismissed for up-ending Gigliotti inside the penalty area in the 55th minute, but Bafetimbi Gomis put his spot-kick wide.

Nancy set up a nervy last 15 minutes when Issiar Dia got away from Blaise Matuidi before finishing neatly past Jeremie Janot, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Alain Perrin from claiming his first win as St Etienne coach.

French Ligue 1