London - Arabstoday
Sochaux hauled themselves off the foot of the Ligue 1 standings with a solid victory at home to fellow relegation scrappers Nice. Edouard Butin hit the opener for the home side on the stroke of the interval before Marvin Martin made it two midway through the second half. The win, Sochaux\'s second in succession, lifts Eric Hely\'s men into 19th place, above Auxerre and level on points with Nice, who occupy the final position inside the relegation zone. Nice started the game well and went close after 15 minutes when Franck Dja Djedje worked a good opening but defender Loic Poujol did just enough to put him off. Luciano Monzon then fired over from the edge of the area for the visitors following some good individual work. Abdoul Camara curled an effort just wide for the hosts in the 39th minute, but the breakthrough arrived moments before the break when David Sauget and Ryad Boudebouz combined before finding Vincent Nogueira out wide. His cross found Butin who diverted the ball beyond David Ospina at the near post. Butin almost added a second on 47 minutes when he turned and fired at the top corner but saw his effort sail just over. Boudebouz was the next to go close for the hosts just after the hour mark, forcing Ospina into a great save in the top corner. The second goal arrived on 68 minutes, however, Sebastien Roudet doing well on the left to find Martin, who beat Francois Clerc on the edge of the area before sending an unstoppable shot beyond Ospina to seal the points.