Valenciennes forward Steve Savidan scored a brace and spectacular late winner to stun historic rivals Marseille 2-1 in another long-awaited French league encounter Wednesday.
Savidan's 86th minute strike handed the north-east side their 2nd triumph from 3 league games so far whilst Marseille have yet to register a win having already drawn their 1st 2 games of the season.
Valenciennes and south-coast side Marseille have little historic rivarly to boast of.
However both clubs were inextricably linked since they were involved in a match fixing scandal in 1993, which ultimately led to Marseille's dramatic relegation to the French 2nd division shortly after being crowned European Cup champions.
Inspite of this being their 3rd league meeting since their well-publicised scandal in 1993, a Valenciennes v Marseille encounter is always one to watch.
On this occasion, Marseille seemed to have their 1st league triumph of the season tucked away after Karim Ziani had given them a 1-0 lead when he slotted home Benoit Cheyrou's pass past Nicolas Penneteau in the Valenciennes goal in the 56th minute.
Ziani then came close to his double with a rasping 20-metre drive hardly 2 minutes later, his shot being parried by Penneteau at full stretch.
But only after the hour mark Valenciennes levelled in spectacular style to relaunch their bid to hold off their rivals.
Habib Beye's clearance fell to Sebastien Roudet, who then rounded the Marseille defender to send in a superb cross for Savidan who headed past Cedric Carrasso from 6 yards out.
Valenciennes were dramatically revived and Marseille continued to press in the closing stages however the visitors ultimately failed to create goalscoring chances.
Both sides were visibly tiring, even though Marseille were given a huge fright in the 82nd minute when the ball fell to Gregory Pujol.
Inspite of having time to pick his spot the Valenciennes midfielder decided to hit his effort 1st time, and it was parried by Carrasso.
4 minutes later the hosts were in the end given reason to party when Savidan claimed the winner with a free kick from 20 metres which left Carrasso with no chance.
