Mahdi Camara got both goals as Saint-Etienne bounced back from conceding an early goal to beat Brest 2-1 on Saturday to move out of the bottom three.
THE MATCH
Saint-Etienne came into the match winless in four and after conceding 10 in their last two games, they must have feared the worst when Brest quickly seized the initiative: Jean-Kévin Duverne and Steve Mounié helped the ball up to Franck Honorat, who stepped away from Mickaël Nadé and Gabriel Silva before firing his 11th league goal of the season past Paul Bernadoni (8').
Fortunately, the hosts quickly got back on an even keel. Denis Bouanga's corner was met by Camara, who — unchallenged — headed his side level to claim his second goal against Brest among his five Ligue 1 Uber Eats career strikes (14').
A block by Brendan Chardonnet prevented a Wahbi Khazri strike testing Marco Bizot (26') before Camara repeated his first goal: another Bouanga corner was met by the midfielder's chest after Haris Belkebla had failed to clear (39') and the hosts were in front.
Honorat, who spent two disappointing years at Saint-Etienne before joining Brest in 2020, clipped a shot just over early in the second half as the visitors sought to bounce back (49') before Irvin Cardona teed his teammate up for a drive that flashed just wide (65'). The pair then combined to create another scare in the hosts' penalty area (66') before Pascal Dupraz's men awoke to the clear and present danger.
Bizot stuck out a leg to block Arnaud Nordin's shot from another Bouanga corner (69') and the Dutch goalkeeper then leapt to his left to push out Ryad Boudebouz's long-range shot (71'). It did take, however, a crucial stop from Bernardoni from Christophe Hérelle's header in added time (90+5') to take Les Verts two points clear of the bottom three ahead of Sunday's matches.
THE PLAYER: Mahdi Camara
The Saint-Etienne youth academy product doesn't score often, and half of his six Ligue 1 Uber Eats goals have now come against Brest. This brace is potentially huge, lifting his team out of a slump and could provide the momentum for a successful survival bid.
THE STAT: 4
St Etienne have won four Ligue 1 games after conceding the first goal this season — only Paris Saint-Germain have done better (6). It was the first time Brest had lost a league game after taking the lead in 2021/22.
