Valenciennes 3 - 1 Lorient

Valenciennes 3-1 Lorient

Updated: August 23, 2008, 4:15 PM ET

VALENCIENNES, August 23 (Ligue 1) - Valenciennes beat Lorient on Saturday evening to end a day which started with a positive update on the condition on defender David Sommeil.

Sommeil, 34, collapsed at the end of training on Wednesday but left intensive care on Saturday.

He is yet to fully regain consciousness but the hospital in which the former Bordeaux and Manchester City defender is being treated announced he is "stable from a cardiac point of view''.

The fillip no doubt translated itself into a positive display from the home side, who cruised into a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Gregory Pujol and Johan Audel.

Kevin Gameiro pulled one back but Luigi Pieroni made sure Valenciennes maintained their impressive start to the season with a third late on.

Pujol opened the scoring from the first attack of the match.

Gaal Danic crossed from the left and Pujol's header proved too powerful for visiting keeper Fabien Audard.

Audard was called upon to make a terrific save after 14 minutes, parrying Pujol's goalbound header.

The Lorient stopper might have done better when the hosts doubled their advantage 17 minutes later, however. Danic put in Audel down the left and his shot went straight through the keeper's legs.

Lorient almost pulled one back four minutes before half-time but captain Sylvain Marchal's header crashed against the bar.

The visitors did get on the scoresheet five minutes after the restart when substitute Andre Ayew picked out Gameiro and his shot flashed past home keeper Nicolas Penneteau.

Valenciennes remained the better side but Audard produced fine saves to keep out efforts from Danic and Audel.

But the points were secured in the 89th minute when a swift counter-attack resulted in Pieroni tapping in Carlos Sanchez's cross.