St Etienne keep Perrin on course

Alain Perrin's hopes of coaching a team to French Cup glory for a third successive season remain alive after AS Saint-Etienne put their Ligue 1 struggles aside to eliminate FC Girondins de Bordeaux in the Round of 64.

Lyon postponed
French international Bafétimbi Gomis scored the only goal for Les Verts against the run of play in the 74th minute. Perrin, appointed as Laurent Roussey's replacement in November, lifted the trophy at the helm of Olympique Lyonnais in 2007/08 and FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 12 months earlier. Lyon were due to begin their cup defence today, only to see their tie away to fifth-tier US Concarnoise postponed due to a frozen pitch.

Draw
Eight top-flights sides entered the oldest football competition in the country against lower-league opposition and two of them were eliminated on penalties as AS Nancy-Lorraine succumbed to fourth division SO Romorantin, and AJ Auxerre to AC Ajaccio. Stade Rennais FC defeated Sochaux 1-0, while SM Caen and Toulouse FC needed shoot-outs to eliminate fellow Ligue 1 clubs FC Nantes and Valenciennes FC. The remaining seven matches will be played on Sunday, before which the draw for the last 32 will have been made.