Diop heads Lorient into final

FC Lorient reached the French Cup final with a 1-0 home victory over second division Nîmes Olympique SC thanks to a late goal from substitute midfield player Malik Diop on Sunday.

Substitute wins the day
Diop, who had replaced Yohaan Cavalli on the hour, headed a corner from striker Jean-Claude Darcheville into the net with 12 minutes remaining of an even match to send Lorient, who are bottom of Le Championnat, through to the final against SC Bastia at the Stade de France on 11 May.

League is the priority
Lorient, who have had a run of poor results in the first division after being promoted last year, are also through to the League Cup final against FC Girondins de Bordeaux next month. "We will have to go twice to the Stade de France and I hope we will be able to bring something back," Lorient coach Yvon Pouliquen said. "The league remains our priority but we hope we will end the season with a smile. There are four league games to play and we
still can avoid relegation. We hope today's victory will help us out of trouble."

Vanucci goes close
For more than an hour the two sides failed to create a single chance to score in a disappointing game. Nîmes were the more enterprising with midfield player Jean-Luc Vanucci unleashing a 25-metre volley that hit goalkeeper Stéphane Le Garrec's left hand post.

No regrets
"We played pretty well during the second half," said Nîmes coach Bernard Boissier. "But we were unable to score a goal. It seems finding the net is still our main problem. We don't have anything to regret. We don't have to be ashamed of our performance today. We did everything we could."