Marseille missed the chance to close the gap on Lyon after a 2-0 defeat at St Etienne.
Marseille missed the chance to close the gap on Lyon after a 2-0 defeat at St Etienne.Goals from Pascal Feindouno (penalty) and David Hellebuyck were enough to give St Etienne the spoils even though Didier Zokora saw red for the hosts.
The game was overshadowed before the kick off when Fabien Barthez refused to play after being hit by a missile thrown from the crowd and Jeremy Gavanon was forced to step in.
Gavanon was to blame for the first goal when he felled Frederic Piquionne inside the box and from the resulting penalty Feindouno fired St Etienne in front.
Marseille poured forward in search of an equaliser, but could not find a way past a resolute St Etienne defence.
St Etienne doubled their lead seven minutes from time when Hellebuyck cut inside Habib Beye and drilled his shot past Gavanon.
Two minutes later the hosts were reduced to ten men when Zokora was sent off for a second bookable offence, but they held on for all three points.
The win lifts St Etienne into the top half of the table, while Marseille remain in second eight points behind Lyon.
