Magical Nimes stun Marseille

PARIS: Newly-promoted Nimes humiliated their distinguished southern neighbours Marseille 3-1 on Sunday to maintain their fairytale start to life back in Ligue 1.

Goals from Denis Bouanga, Sada Thioub and Renaud Ripart earned last season’s Division Two runners-up a famous scalp in their first home game in the French topflight since the 1992/93 season.

And it came a week after they opened with a 4-3 win at Angers which has lifted the side with the lowest Ligue 1 budget into the unlikely position of second in the fledgling table, level on points with the wealthiest team in the league, Paris Saint-Germain.

As if this embarrassing loss wasn’t punishment enough for Marseille coach Rudi Garcia he suffered another blow when his World Cup winning goalkeeper Steve Mandanda had to come off with an apparent injured thigh.

Earlier, Bordeaux were beaten 2-1 by Toulouse with the loss failing to lift spirits at the club after the suspension of coach Gustavo Poyet.

The Uruguayan’s future is in serious doubt after he was served with a one week ban for an angry tirade at club bosses over the sale of striker Gaetan Laborde to Ligue 1 rivals Montpellier.

Eric Bedouet, one of Poyet’s assistants, took charge for Sunday’s derby but hopes of a pickme-up on the pitch were dashed by Leya Iseka and Mathieu Dossevi, who scored for Toulouse in either half.

Bedouet sprang to the defence of Poyet at the post-match press conference, describing him as “a charming, competent man...who loves the club.”

“It’s never ideal when a manager leaves like that,” he added in explanation of the team’s showing in the derby defeat.

The main topic of conversation in the stands was the identity of any potential successor to Poyet, should he be sacked.

Among the names being bandied about were Thierry Henry, most recently assistant coach to Roberto Martinez with World Cup semi-finalists Belgium, and former Bordeaux boss Laurent Blanc.

Poyet was only appointed in January and he helped Bordeaux to European qualification with six wins in their final seven games last season.