Ligue 1: St Etienne claim narrow 1-0 victory against Nantes

Franck Tabanou's first goal of the season saw St Etienne maintain the pressure on Ligue 1's top four with a 1-0 win over Nantes.

The full-back curled a free-kick into the top corner in the 18th minute to give Les Verts a narrow win that sees them stay just a point behind Marseille in fourth place.

Going into the game on the back of a four-game unbeaten home run, St Etienne started the brighter of the two, with Max Gradel lively early on.

The winger caused the visitors problems inside the first five minutes as he found Francois Clerc, whose low drive flew narrowly wide of the post from 20 yards.

There was an immediate response from Nantes as Serge Gakpe's powerful shot was well stopped and turned round the post by Stephane Ruffier.

After further pressure from Gradel, Tabanou stepped up to curl a fantastic free-kick into the top corner from the right-hand channel to give the hosts an ultimately decisive goal, with Ruffier's opposite number, Remy Riou, taken by surprise.

Ruffier was called upon again in the second half, but Nantes continued to look like a side short on confidence in front of the goal as they failed to mount a period of sustained pressure, meaning they forced to settle for a loss which sees them drop down to 10th and on a run of just one win in five.

Mevlut Erding could have doubled the lead late on when he latched on to a cross but he saw his effort well kept out by Riou to keep the score at 1-0.