Gignac strikes double as Toulouse win

Gignac strikes double as Toulouse win

Andre-Pierre Gignac netted twice as Toulouse moved up to ninth in the Ligue 1 table with a deserved victory over Sochaux on Thursday night.

The hosts failed to score in the first half despite dominating proceedings, but they put that right after the break with Gignac striking twice in three minutes.

The striker had the first chance of the night in the sixth minute but his effort from outside the area was straight at Teddy Richert.

The Sochaux keeper was a busy man and he twice kept out free-kicks from Paulo Machado in the opening half-an-hour.

Gignac was involved again in the 29th minute, combining with Moussa Sissoko before firing in a volley but again Richert was up to the task.

It was Toulouse captain Etienne Didot's chance to try his luck shortly after when he collected Etienne Capoue's cross and combined with Gignac only to see his left-footed effort saved.

Sochaux finally threatened four minutes before half-time through Benjamin Gavanon but Anthony Loustallot was up to the task and then reacted quickly to snaffle the rebound.

Having wasted their chances in the first half, Toulouse finally made the breakthrough four minutes after the break, and inevitably it was Gignac who put the ball in the net.

Loustallot belted the ball into his opposite number's box and Gignac seized on a mistake from defender Jacques Faty before easily beating Richert.

Two minutes later he was at in again courtesy of another defensive error. Franck Tabanou put pressure of Ivan Stevanovic and, when the defender misplaced his pass, Gignac swooped in to complete his double.

Sissoko fired over as Toulouse looked for a third while Sochaux had a chance for a late consolation but Vaclav Sverkos' shot was kept out by Loustallot.