Grenoble break French duck with first victory

Rock bottom Grenoble secured their first win of the season at the 15th attempt with a long-awaited victory against Toulouse in the French league on Saturday.

Grenoble’s record-breaking 14-game winless start to the season has already guaranteed their place in Ligue 1 history but they finally broke their duck with a deserved 1-0 win over Alain Casanova’s Europa League participants.

The home side largely bossed proceedings at the Stade des Alpes but had to wait until the 81st minute to break the deadlock, with Nicolas Dieuze slamming home after Olivier Blondel parried Danijel Ljuboja’s free-kick.

“It’s a first victory that does us a huge amount of good,” said Grenoble coach Mecha Bazdarevic.

“We’ve rediscovered that state of mind that was our strength last season. If we continue like this we’ll have a little chance of getting out (of the relegation zone).”

Stuttering Auxerre succumbed to a second successive defeat when they lost 3-1 at home to Nancy.

Victory would have taken Jean Fernandez’s side up to second place, two points behind league leaders Bordeaux, but they fell to second-half strikes from Abdeslam Ouaddou and Youssouf Hadji after Andre Luiz’s 26th-minute opener for the visitors had been cancelled out by Valter Birsa.

Auxerre soared to the top of the table on the back of a seven-game winning run that ended with a 1-0 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain in their last outing but Sunday’s loss leaves them in fifth place, five points off the pace.

Elsewhere, Boulogne came from a goal behind to defeat local rivals and fellow top-flight new boys Lens 2-1 thanks to a goal shortly before half-time from Damien Perrinelle.

Boulogne had to play with 10 men for over 70 minutes after defender Mame N’Diaye saw red in the 18th minute following a foul on Sebastien Roudet that yielded his second booking.

In Saturday’s matches, Bordeaux edged PSG 1-0 to stretch their lead at the top to four points, while Marseille took the spoils in the Mediterranean derby by beating Nice 3-1.

Lyon can close to within two points of defending champions Bordeaux and move above Montpellier and Valenciennes, who both won on Saturday, if they win at Lille in Sunday’s late game.