Saint-Étienne secured a third straight win in Ligue 2, seeing off Montpellier 3-1 at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard on Friday evening. The hosts moved five points clear at the top after their fifth victory in as many games, while Montpellier dropped to fifth place with eight points from five matches. By then the visitors had already begun to look leggy, their passing game fraying at the edges as the match wore on.
Maxime Bernauer broke the deadlock in the forty-first minute, a well-taken finish that gave the home crowd something to cheer about. Montpellier responded almost immediately through Daylam Meddah, who nodded home in first-half stoppage time. And here's the thing about that period: it felt like a game of ping-pong, both teams trading blows with little regard for defensive shape. Augustine Boakye restored the lead just after the hour mark, his strike finding the bottom corner after a swift counter-attack.
The statistics tell one story, but the match told another. Montpellier enjoyed 55 per cent possession and completed more passes, yet Saint-Étienne registered ten shots to their opponents' six. To be fair, the visitors created one big chance while the hosts managed none, suggesting that when opportunities arose, Saint-Étienne took them more ruthlessly. The final whistle brought a sense of relief rather than celebration — this wasn't a dominant performance, just a practical one.
Joshua Duffus added a fourth goal in the seventy-first minute, though it was his side's only strike from open play in the second half. Saint-Étienne had already begun turning to their bench, bringing on Thierno Ballo and Zuriko Davitashvili to shore up the midfield. Montpellier threw on Hichem Abderrebi and Naoufel El Hannach in search of something, but the pitch cut up badly and any rhythm they might have found dissolved.
The results matter more than the manner for now. Saint-Étienne sit top with fifteen points from five games, having won every fixture since the season began. Montpellier's recent run of results — a draw against Boulogne, a win over Dunkirk, another victory against Nancy — suggested they were building something, but this afternoon they simply couldn't match the pace. The table goes out of the window in these games, but for now the hosts are the ones writing the story.