N'Gog enjoys dream debut

David N'Gog scored on his Reims debut as the Ligue 1 side clinched their first win of the season 2-0 against Toulouse.

The former Liverpool striker rounded off a superb counter-attack to break the deadlock early on before Gaetan Courtet completed the scoring with five minutes remaining at the Stade Auguste Delaune.

Reims climb out of the drop zone as a result of the win and are now just two points and two places behind Toulouse, who drop to 15th and are still searching for their first three points on the road.

N'Gog, who was released by Swansea earlier this summer, was among a host of new signings on display for the hosts as new Reims coach Jean-Luc Vasseur emptied his deck in a bid to spark their flailing season.

Loanee duo Chris Mavinga and Valentin Roberge, whose parent club is Sunderland, were also thrown straight into the action at the back and Vasseur will be thrilled with their impact as they kept their first clean sheet this year.

Antoine Conte had the first meaningful effort of the evening with a spectacular volley from 20 yards after Zacharie Boucher parried Diego's corner in the fourth minute, but the Toulouse keeper recovered well to save again.

Three minutes later Etienne Didot surged forwards for the visitors and he almost put it on a plate for Wissam Ben Yedder, but the 24-year-old could not find the target.

N'Gog made them pay shortly after as he opened the scoring in style after just 13 minutes.

The 25-year-old showed strong awareness to peel off Toulouse's retreating backline and sit in the pocket between midfield and defence like Jonny Wilkinson preparing to hit a drop goal.

Odair Fortes cut in from the left, spotted N'Gog and rolled it to his striking partner on the edge of the box. N'Gog opened his body and exquisitely curled it, first time, into the top corner past a despairing Zacharie Boucher.

Annoyingly for Toulouse head coach Alain Casanova, N'Gog was in exactly the kind of position that holding midfielder Abel Aguilar might normally occupy if he was not out injured.

Boucher did well to prevent Fortes and N'Gog from combining to devastating effect again just before the break but the signs were already ominous for the visitors.

It was Toulouse who started the second half better though, with Aleksander Pesic heading against a post just after the hour mark before Courtet ended the contest.

He peeled off Toulouse's centre-halves in almost a carbon-copy of N'Gog's earlier move, just inside the box this time, and he stroked home Fortes' perfectly weighted ball.