Lorient back on track

Lorient ended a run of four straight Ligue 1 defeats with a 2-1 win over struggling Sochaux at the Stade du Moustoir.

Lorient ended a run of four straight Ligue 1 defeats with a 2-1 win over struggling Sochaux at the Stade du Moustoir. Vincent Aboubakar opened the scoring in the 17th minute with Yann Jouffre notching what proved to be the winner 10 minutes after the restart. Cedric Bakambu finally responded for Sochaux on the stroke of full-time but it was too little, too late. The hosts were the first to attack with intent and some clever play by Aboubakar gifted Mathieu Coutadeur a shooting chance, but he fired just wide of Simon Pouplin's left post. Bryan Pele soon found space on the left before picking out Aboubakar, who was allowed the freedom of the visitors' area to smash a volley beyond Pouplin from 12 yards. With the end of the half approaching Sochaux continued to struggle in the final third while Lorient seemed happy to sit on their slender lead. The visitors emerged from the changing rooms with more intent, however, and Rafael Dias soon tested Fabien Audard with an awkward shot from 30 yards before firing just wide of a post from the edge of the area. Sochaux were punished for their wastefulness as Lorient doubled their lead with 10 minutes of the second half gone. The impressive Aboubakar was involved again and, after he was played in behind the visitors' defence, the Cameroon striker pulled the ball back for Jouffre to score. Lorient continued to test Pouplin and the busy goalkeeper was on hand to keep out Aboubakar yet again after Kevin Monnet-Paquet released him. The visitors did manage a late reply, Bakambu converting Abdoul Camara's cross on 90 minutes, but Sochaux remain without a win on their travels this season.