EVIAN, France (AP) - Cedric Barbosa and Daniel Wass fired struggling Evian to a 2-0 win over Nantes in the French league Friday.
Veteran midfielder Barbosa chased a long ball over the top from Olivier Sorlin to score with a low diagonal strike in the 61st minute for his first goal this season.
Danish fullback Wass doubled the lead in the 78th by curling a free kick into the bottom corner.
Evian remained in 17th place but moved five points clear of the relegation zone.
“The team was too tense in the first half, we lost too many balls,” Evian winger Pape Amodou Sougou told BeIn Sport television. “We fixed that in the second half, we played our game and made Nantes run after the ball.”
Evian earned its first victory this year to snap an 11-game winless streak in all competitions.
Nantes had the best chance in the first half when Alejandro Bedoya met a cross from Banel Nicolita in the 24th. The header from the American midfielder struck the bar before bouncing in front of the goal line.
Paris holds a five-point lead at the top of the league and will host Marseille on Sunday.
On Saturday, it’s: Saint-Etienne vs. Monaco; Lorient vs. Bastia; Nice vs. Toulouse; Reims vs.Valenciennes; Rennes vs. Guingamp; and Sochaux vs. Bordeaux.
On Sunday, Lille travels to Ajaccio, and Lyon faces Montpellier.
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