Three and easy for St Etienne

St Etienne brushed aside rock-bottom Nancy 3-0 to take all the points from a lively Ligue 1 encounter.

St Etienne brushed aside rock-bottom Nancy 3-0 to take all the points from a lively Ligue 1 encounter that saw both sides finish with 10 men. Brandao's opener and a brace by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang sealed a routine victory for St Etienne, who have now won five and drawn two of their last seven games and remain unbeaten away from home in the league in 2013. The win keep St Etienne in fifth, now just two points behind third-placed Marseille who are away to leaders Paris St Germain on Sunday. The visitors' night was marred by the second-half dismissal of Fabian Lemoine, while Nancy also ended a man light after teenage substitute Florent Zitte was sent off just minutes into his Ligue 1 debut. The defeat was Nancy's third on the trot and leaves them six points from safety. Sixteen minutes were on the clock when the hosts went in front as Loic Perrin picked out Renaud Cohade and his run and cross was turned in from close range by Brandao. Max Gradel was denied by a superb save by Damien Gregorini after half an hour, while two minutes later the Nancy goalkeeper got down well to keep out Cohade's free-kick. Gregorini had no answer on 39 minutes when Aubameyang made it two, the forward directing the ball into the net from Josua Guilavogui's scuffed strike. Things were running to plan for St Etienne until the 63rd minute when Lemoine was issued a straight red for a bad tackle on Vincent Muratori. Playing with 10 men did not seem to affect the visitors and they almost made it three on 67 minutes when Cohade led a counter-attack and crossed for Aubameyang but his fearsome shot cannoned against the crossbar. Nancy threw on 19-year-old forward Zitte for his debut with 30 minutes remaining and he was involved in the hosts' best move of the match after 72 minutes as teed up fellow substitute Benjamin Moukandjo for a shot that was well saved by Stephane Ruffier. Zitte's cameo came to an end six minutes later when he was shown a straight red card for an ugly tackle from behind on Jonathan Brison, and Nancy's misery was complete in the final minute when Aubameyang tucked away his second from Mathieu Bodmer's cross.