Ligue 1: Carlos Eduardo scores five times in Nice victory
Sunday 26 October 2014 19:42, UK
Carlos Eduardo scored five times as Nice moved up to seventh in Ligue 1 with a staggering 7-2 victory at rock-bottom Guingamp.
Claudio Beauvue headed Guingamp into an early lead, but that was as good as it got for the hosts as Eduardo's first-half hat-trick and Alassane Plea's goal on the stroke of half-time put Nice in charge.
Eduardo bagged another two after the interval, while Eric Bautheac scored the away side's seventh shortly after Ronnie Schwartz had pulled one back for Guingamp, who were brought back down to earth following last week's surprise 2-1 win at Lille.
Max Gradel's second-half strike was enough to seal a more low-key contest at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard as St Etienne beat Metz 1-0.
Les Verts were on top for long periods, but found it hard to break down their opponents before Gradel's acrobatic finish 16 minutes from the end secured the victory.
It was St Etienne's second league win in a row after they arrested a three-match winless streak at Lorient last week and they are now up to third, while Metz slip to 10th after being leapfrogged by Rennes.
Philippe Montanier's side moved up to ninth courtesy of a 2-0 win at home to Lille, with second-half strikes from Habib Habibou and Abdoulaye Doucoure enough to make it eight matches without a win in all competitions for their opponents.
Rennes have now kept three clean sheets in a row and are looking in good shape with a trip to Nantes next up in the league.
