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| Lille trashed nine-man Lens 4 - 1 |
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Lille were made to battle for their first win of the Ligue 1 season against nine-man derby rivals Lens.
The visitors made heavy work of claiming their success in an ill-tempered contest that had looked safely in their control after Lens had Sebastien Roudet and Issam Jemaa sent off following Gervinho's 22nd-minute opener.
Despite their two-man disadvantage Lens levelled through Abdoulrazak Boukari after 60 minutes and their stubborn resolve looked set to earn them a point as the match entered its final 15 minutes.
But Pierre-Alain Frau's quick double after 78 and 80 minutes ended Lens' resolve, before the scoreline became even more lop-sided with Gervinho's second late on.
Lille had drawn their opening four matches before meeting their north France rivals but went ahead after 22 minutes when when Yohan Cabaye's pass set Gervinho into space and he picked his spot.
The game began to find an edge just before the break and Roudet was given his marching orders for protesting a decision for handball too vehemently.
Jemaa and Florent Balmont then exchanged words as the players went to the break.
A minute after the interval Jemaa was at the centre of controversy again as he was booked twice in quick succession to leave his side with nine men.
Lens faced an uphill task now but Toifilou Maoulida forced a save before Boukari scored an unlikely equaliser on the hour when he outjumped his marker at the far post following a quickly-taken corner.
The onus was now back on Lille to score and Balmont hit a sweet shot just over, and as time ticked down the home fans could sense a memorable fighting draw.
But those hopes were dashed 12 minutes from the end when Vedran Runje could only push Cabaye's shot as far as Frau to tap home.
The 30-year-old striker was in the right place again for his second three minutes later when Ludovic Obraniak's deflected header fell for him to lash home.
Gervinho then put the gloss on Lille's derby win in the 87th minute when Mathieu Debuchy's flicked pass set up the Ivorian to score with a header.
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