Lassine Sinayoko scored against his former club Auxerre to earn Paris FC a 1-0 win, making this the first of these sides’ three Ligue 1 head-to-heads not to end level.
The visitors saw plenty of the ball early on, but the most notable moment was a clash of heads between Hamari Traore and Danny Namaso. That set the tone for a hotly contested match, with no room for niceties as Rudy Matondo and Sinayoko returned to Stade Abbé-Deschamps. There were three yellow cards within a minute when a disagreement between Pierre Lees-Melou and Cameron Archer was swiftly followed by Sinaly Diomande going through the back of Sinayoko.
The game’s first chance came from an Auxerre free-kick in the 21st minute, although Marvin Senaya headed off target. Sinayoko’s personal battle with Diomande continued and so did the lack of true threat, as Axel Tuanzebe stretched out a boot to divert Otavio’s tame shot behind before Lees-Melou’s horribly mishit volley went harmlessly wide.
There was a moment of quality in the 39th minute when Romain Faivre breezed past Otavio and fizzed the ball towards the back post for Archer to finish, but the goal was ruled out following a VAR check due to a Fredrik Oppegard handball. There was another check when Diego Coppola’s header from the ensuing free-kick was blocked, although no handball was given on that occasion.
There was an attacking improvement within five minutes of the restart, even if Pablo Pagis and Pierre Ekwah both saw their efforts from range saved. Pagis was offering a hint of the quality that earned him a call-up to Zinedine Zidane’s France squad, and his superb free-kick delivery resulted in Tuanzebe turning the ball behind off his own post. It was a wayward Pagis shot that resulted in the opener, though, as Sinayoko instinctively diverted it into the bottom corner to silence his former supporters and extend his lead as Ligue 1’s top goalscorer.
The hosts showed no signs of giving up following the setback and Archer was found in the box after a lovely move, but Kevin Trapp stopped the striker to ensure Paris earned back-to-back wins for the second time this term to draw level on points with Paris Saint-Germain. That is at least until their match later in the evening against Troyes, who occupy the relegation play-off place and are just two points behind Auxerre after Les Ajaistes were condemned to back-to-back defeats.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Pierre Lees-Melou (Paris FC)
Catch up on all the stats with Flashscore.