Aside from a few select moments, victory was rarely in doubt, but it was still a nervy Saint-Etienne side that collected their first win of the season against Grenoble.
Les Verts would probe around the visiting goalmouth for a significant period of time before finally grabbing the lead. Boubacar Sanogo half-volley on 14 minutes nicked off a defender and went safe for a corner, but Sainte seemed short on ideas once again. Finally the prized the visitors open, with some neat passing and moving culminating in Christophe Landrin shooting low into the goal.
It was nearly two moments later, when an effort from Kevin Mirallas was touched onto the post by former Saint-Etienne goalkeeper Jody Viviani, who was by far the more active of the glovesmen in the first half.
The threat in front of goal would largely remain in front of the GF38 net for the second period, too. While Sanogo was key to Sainte’s attacks, Ljuboja was totally central to much of the positive things Grenoble did, striking narrowly wide with a decent effort on 56 minutes.
But the home side remained in control, always wary that their lead was never decisive until a second goal was added. Dimitri Payet had a snap-shot narrowly over, but the crucial strike still seemed distant.
With time ticking away, a fine burst from young Bakary Sako nearly instigated a second goal for the hosts, but his cross was not met by anyone in the center.
Stoppage time brought two real scares for the hosts, with Joseph Tadic’s shot a real teaser for the fans, who must’ve felt the ball was going under rather than over the bar.
Sainte had done enough to claim their first points of the season, while Grenoble are still searching for theirs.
