St Etienne pay the penalty against Auxerre

Auxerre reached the French League Cup semi-finals on Tuesday after two penalties saw them to a 2-0 victory over St Etienne and edge them closer to securing their first trophy since the French Cup in 2005.

Benoit Pedretti and Polish international Dariusz Dudka successfully converted their respective penalties in the 15th and 48th minutes to give the hosts a spot in the last four to extend their recent unbeaten run, after a poor start to the season, to six in all competitions including a fine Champions League win over Ajax last week.

In contrast St Etienne were going down to their third successive defeat and have won only once since beating Lyon on September 25th and that was against Bordeaux in the League Cup in the last 16.

Pedretti – who won over 20 caps for France – tucked away his penalty after Sylvain Marchal was adjudged to have handled Roy Contout’s cross while Dudka converted his when Contout was upended by Josuah Guilavogui.

Wednesday sees the other three quarter-finals take place with Paris Saint Germain looking to maintain their impressive campaign this season – including a superb 2-1 home win over champions Marseille last Sunday – away at their coach Antoine Kombouare’s former club Valenciennes.

Marseille, who are the League Cup holders, host Monaco looking to bounce back from the PSG reverse while Montpellier are at home to Lille.