Guingamp beat the drop

Guingamp assured themselves of Ligue 1 football for another season as they beat Toulouse 2-0 on Saturday night.

Guingamp assured themselves of Ligue 1 football for another season as they beat Toulouse 2-0 on Saturday night. With Sochaux and Evian playing each other next week there is no way Guingamp can be caught by the two sides below them who remain in trouble, and they can now revel in staying up after only being promoted a year ago. They also have the added boost of being able to enjoy their cup final win over Rennes all the more with the knowledge that it did not come at the expense of their top-flight status. Any nerves they may have had were put to bed with five minutes gone as Claudio Beauvue scored and then Mustapha Yatabare put away a 14th-minute penalty. After that Toulouse took over but they were unable to break down a Guingamp side who knew exactly what was on the line. Beauvue's goal was the perfect early tonic, heading in fromt close range after a Christophe Mandanne cross. Toulouse tried to respond but they were stopped in their tracks as Pavle Ninkov took down Mandanne in the box and Yatabare stepped up to do the rest from 12 yards. It was a good job for Guingamp that they gave themselves such an early boost for Toulouse took over after that and, with some better finishing, could have made a better game of it. Wissam Ben Yedder played in Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro who went close, while Ninkov nearly atoned for his error with a shot which skimmed the post. Akpa Akpro was again denied by impressive keeper Mamadou Samassa, with the same man getting in the way of an Oscar Trejo effort to see the game out.