Montpellier turn it around

Late goals from Karim Ait-Fana and Remy Cabella handed Montpellier a 2-1 victory over Toulouse on Saturday night.

Late goals from Karim Ait-Fana and Remy Cabella handed Montpellier a 2-1 victory over Toulouse to move up a place in the Ligue 1 table on Saturday night. Oscar Trejo struck first to hand the visitors the lead early on before Ait-Fana and Cabella netted one apiece to turn things around for Montpellier, the three points moving them above Rennes - who could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Lorient - into 13th. For Toulouse it meant they extended their winless streak to six matches, but they remain ninth in the standings with three matches remaining. In the first real chance of note, after just six minutes, Alain Casanova's men took the lead. After an excellent collective move where Clement Chantome picked out Pavel Ninkov on the right of the penalty area, the latter flicked to the penalty spot where Trejo curled the ball into the top left of the goal. Martin Braithwaite could have doubled their lead minutes later had his superb volley from just outside the box not gone wide. The home side had a couple of chances to bag an equaliser before the break, but M'Baye Niang's long-range effort was tipped around the post by Toulouse goalkeeper Zacharie Boucher, before Jonas Martin was also denied by Boucher as the match approached half-time. Montpellier came out strongest in the second half but Boucher was in fine form and held out Benjamin Stambouli's 25-yard strike. The visitors could have netted a second minutes after the hour mark had Ben Yedder's curled effort not sailed wide. Moments later, Montpellier tested Boucher again at the other end but the France Under-21 international blocked Cabella's shot following a goalmouth scramble. But the home side made their chances pay with 10 minutes left as an unmarked Ait-Fana picked up Stambouli's cross at the far post and sent home a low shot to finally beat Boucher. Three minutes later Montpellier struck again with a penalty after Dusan Veskovac brought down Ait-Fana. Cabella made no mistake and powered the ball into the top right corner to hand his side the three points.