Nîmes shock St Etienne
Sunday, January 9, 2005
Article summary
Nîmes Olympique came from two goals down to edge out AS Saint-Etienne in a thrilling cup tie.
Article body
AS Saint-Etienne became the third Ligue 1 side of the weekend to tumble out of the French Cup to lesser opposition when third division outfit Nîmes Olympique edged a five-goal thriller at De Bouvine stadium.
Piquionne double
Frédéric Piquionne - who began his career at Nîmes - had given the visitors the perfect start with two goals in the opening eight minutes, but the Languedoc side hit back and were level by the break. Julien Benhamou reduced the arrears on 32 minutes before Stéphane Beyrac equalised on the stroke on half-time.
Nîmes fightback
Matthias Verschave scored what proved to be the winner on 69 minutes as St Etienne who, with six wins are the joint-second most successful outfit in French Cup history, followed the side currently leading the winners' list, Marseille, out of this year's competition. The south coast side, who were chasing their eleventh Coupe de France triumph, were defeated by SCO Angers yesterday.
Strasbourg shock
RC Strasbourg became the first Ligue 1 side to be eliminated when they lost 3-1 at another Ligue 2 side, CS Sedan Ardennes, on Friday, while two other top-flight teams will also be missing from tomorrow's draw at the Stade de France. FC Istres and SC Bastia lost all-Ligue 1 matches to FC Girondins de Bordeaux and FC Sochaux-Montbéliard, respectively.
