Hamouma earns St-Étienne success at Dnipro

• First Group G win for Les Verts; first loss in section for Dnipro
• Low Romain Hamouma finish rounds off low-key first half
• Ruslan Rotan gets best Dnipro's chance; Stéphane Ruffier saves well
• Florentin Pogba heads against his own bar at death
• Teams meet again at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard on 5 November

Romain Hamouma's strike just before half-time consigned Dnipro to their first Group G defeat, St-Étienne securing their first success in this season's UEFA Europa League.

The home side scored six without reply at Stal Dniprodzerzhynsk on Saturday, but did not muster a meaningful shot until Ruslan Rotan's effort from range on 35 minutes. St-Étienne had passed the ball around nicely, yet took even longer to threaten, Denys Boyko cutting out Hamouma's ball across goal and then saving a Nolan Roux effort soon afterwards.

Those two players combined for the opener on 44 minutes, Roux's delivery from the right picking out Hamouma on the opposite side of the area; the Dnipro defence failed to discourage the 28-year-old winger, and Hamouma was able to steer a low strike across Boyko and into the net.

Dnipro, who had netted late in their opening two Group G games, began to build momentum as the second half went on. Loïc Perrin put in a great challenge to stop Yevhen Seleznyov pulling the trigger, and goalkeeper Stéphane Ruffier scrambled to keep out a Rotan attempt. St-Étienne countered cannily enough, and their luck was in, Florentin Pogba flicking a corner onto his own crossbar in the closing seconds.