Saint-Etienne have consolidated fourth position in Ligue 1 with a 2-0 win over Montpellier HSC on Sunday afternoon.
Neither side could break the deadlock in a fairly one-placed opening 45 minutes, with two yellow cards for Montpellier demonstrating the feistiness in the middle of the park.
Saint-Etienne opened the scoring in the early stages of the first period when Romain Hamouma found the back of the net, before Mevlut Erdinc made it 2-0 just before the hour mark.
The visitors introduced Karim Ait-Fana and Morgan Sanson in an attempt to find a way back into the match, but Saint-Etienne held on to pick up a vital three points.
Former champions Montepellier, meanwhile, remain 13th having won just eight of their 36 league games this season.
