Saint-Etienne stayed second from bottom but are only separated from potential safety by goal difference. Lyon fell to sixth. Two of their rivals for Champions League places, Lille and Nice, won earlier in the day.

Lucas Stassin gave the hosts a 10th minute lead and then escaped a red card for a tackle on Corentin Tolisso which led to the Lyon midfielder being carried off on a stretcher.

Saint-Etienne were leading 1-0 when play was interrupted in the 45th minute. Linesman Mehdi Rahmouni bent over and clutched his head on the touchline as visitors Lyon were about to take a throw at the Geoffrey-Guichard Stadium in Saint-Etienne.

Referee Francois Letexier ordered the players off. After 35 minutes, Noel Mannino, the league's matchday representative, announced play would resume after Rahmouni had said he was not injured but only dazed and had taken a paracetamol tablet.

"We're going to restart the game because the assistant referee feels up to restarting," said Mannino. Lyon fans were banned from travelling to the match between the bitter rivals. The announced attendance was 40,372 and the ground was still full as the teams re-emerged.

Once Rahmouni had recovered his dropped flag, play resumed. "Operations to identify the person who threw the projectile began within a minute of the incident," sources close to Saint-Etienne told AFP.

Stassin doubled the lead after 67 minutes with a swerving drive. American Tanner Tessmann replied in the 76th minute but Saint-Etienne held out to provoke delirious celebration from their volatile fans.

The incident came a few days after the French Football Federation and Ministry of the Interior said they intended to act to protect match officials at all levels of the game.

Saint-Etienne have been threatened with closure of the two ends of the ground after recent "massive use of pyrotechnic devices and verbal abuse" but the pitch was still swathed in smoke from the stands before kick-off.

T. Tessmann

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