Wins for Montpellier, Lyon and Paris FC kept the top three unchanged – though differently ordered as MHSC took pole position on goal difference – PSG and Soyaux able to advance up the table with wins and Bordeaux got off the mark with their first win of the season.
Guingamp 0-5 Olympique Lyonnais
A strong mid-table team, Guingamp could do little to stop Lyon when they got started, the reigning champions masters of picking teams apart. The home defence held as firm as it could until half-way through the first-half when Eugénie Le Sommer turned Dzsenifer Marozsán’s deflected effort home. Wendie Renard added a snap second, getting her head on the ball at a corner before Saki Kumagai converted from the spot after Ada Hegerberg had been tripped in the box.
Hegerberg made it four just before the hour when she nodded Camille Abily’s sublime cross past Solène Durand before Marozsán wrapped up the scoring nine minutes from time with a whipped free kick that Durand could have done much better with.
Rodez 0-3 PSG
Kadidiatou Diani got the visitors off to the perfect start in the south of France, her fourth minute stooped header enough to beat a flat-footed Julie Niphon. Down but nowhere near out, Rodez did fantastically well to keep PSG out for the remainder of the first-half, the defence sharp to the danger.
Undone again at a corner early in the half, Rodez finally succumbed to a second, Irene Paredes’ bullet header enough to catch Niphon out again. PSG’s third and final goal, a third and final header at a set-piece, Marie-Antoinette Katoto left in space to pick her spot, the ball just slipping over despite Manon Guitard’s best efforts at clearing it off of the line.
Montpellier 8-0 Fleury 91
After putting seven past Albi, Montpellier were looking for more of the same in their first home game of the year, an 8-0 loss a bruising one for newly promoted Fleury.
Following on from a relatively slow start, Virginia Torrecilla finally opened the scoring just after the half hour with a first-time effort from outside the box that curled over Maryne Gignoux-Soulier and into the back of the net. Katrine Veje doubled the advantage three minutes later before Stina Blackstenius carried the ball through the defence and rolled it home before the break.
Overrun, there was little the visiting defenders could do to stop the hosts once they had the wind in their sails, Valérie Gauvin next on the scoresheet when she sent Veje’s flashed ball over the line from close-range. Blackstenius saw her angled header catch the inside of the post and stay out as she went up with Gignoux-Soulier, but of course she had a teammate lurking in Sandie Toletti to push the ball back goalwards and awkwardly home. Unable to cope with the onslaught and speed at which the goals were being fired in, Fleury found themselves in knots, a lose foul on Torrecilla on the edge of the box enough to see them concede from the spot as Janice Cayman converted the penalty with ease.
Gauvin grabbed her second on the hour, whipping the ball around the static defence and into the far side of the goal from outside the box, the pummelling completed in stoppage time by Marie-Charlotte Ledger as her stretched stot nicked in off of the inside of the far post.
With fifteen goals in two matches this year (against two teams that are more than likely to be fighting for their survival) Montpellier have climbed to the top of the tree on goal difference, Lyon left to look paltry with a mere 12.
Paris FC 2-1 Olympique Marseille
In a replay of the last match both played of the 2016-17 season, the visitors could still find little joy at the Stade Robert Bobin, succumbing to a 2-1 loss once again. Despite taking an early lead when Marie-Yasmine Alidou D'Anjou scored OM’s first of the year, the hosts soon found themselves level through Gaëtane Thiney. The game won four minutes into the second-half when Inlès Jaurena finished into an empty net after Thiney had pulled the entire backline out of position.
One of the teams that could really carve out a place for themselves this season, OM will be beyond disappointed with just one point from two matches so far, their first win vital to kick-starting their season though with a visit form MHSC next, they could be waiting for a while longer.
Bordeaux 3-1 ASPTT Albi
Bordeaux picked themselves up from their surprisingly first day loss to Lille to grab a win against potential relegation rivals, Albi. Behind from the fifth minute after Kim Cazeau slipped in behind and picked out the far corner from ten yards, Les Girondins responded with aplomb, Juliane Gathrat’s curler from the top of the box perfectly struck to nip inside of the post. With the hosts seeing the better of it bun unable to capitalise, Nadjma Ali Nadjim latched onto a long ball and charged into the box only to be felled by Morgane Belkhiter, leaving the referee no option but to whistle.
Calm from 12 yards, Andréa Lardez struck the ball low and central, Gabrielle Lambert adjusting her body at the last second to twitch back to her left as the ball just beat her, the hosts with the advantage just before the break.
Despite their best efforts, Bordeaux struggled to find a cushion for the majority of the second-half, the game finely poised until Solène Barbance volleyed home a stunner from 25-yards with less than ten minutes left. A deep free-kick enough to start the move, Julie Thibaud nodded on for Carol Rodrigues who with her back to goal opted the lay-off to Barbance who arrived on it to loop the ball over the box and see it crest just under the bar.
ASJ Soyaux 2-1 Lille OSC
Following on from their impressive point last week, Soyaux continued to look calm and composed on the pitch. Grabbing a goal in the sixth minute when Gwendoline Djebbar volleyed a whipped free kick home, the hosts looked well on their way to an impressive win before Ouleymata Sarr nodded her own rebound into the waiting goal two minutes later.
The third and final goal dropped for the home side half-way through the first-half, Laura Bourgouin able to slip the ball under Elisa Launay and into the far corner. Despite both teams having chances throughout the last hour of the match – particularly from dead balls – there was no goalmouth action for the fans to cheer. If both teams can keep up their relaxed start to the season then neither should be forced to worry about relegation.
