St Gallen rise up league table

Sion's Julien Pouyes (left) chases St Gallen's Pascal Jenny for possession of the ball Keystone

St Gallen have crept up to second place in the national football league table after beating Sion 1-0.

In front of a 6,900 strong crowd in Tourbillon, St Gallen’s Carlos Chaile scored the only goal of the match in the 76th minute clinching victory for the boys from north-eastern Switzerland.

Saturday’s win also helped St Gallen rise up the league table to take second place, where they replaced the losers, Sion. With 33 points the Valais-based side had to make do with slipping to third position.

Aarau vs Neuchâtel Xamax

Elsewhere, Aarau lost 2-1 to Neuchâtel Xamax at home with the 2,900 spectators having to wait until the second half for any goals.

The first came in the 51st minute when Xamax’s Kader Mangane slammed one past the Aarau goalie. But the Vaud side’s joy was shortlived with Aarau’s Christian Okpala equalising four minutes later.

The deciding goal arrived one minute before full time when Alex slammed one past the post and claimed victory for the French-speaking side.

With Saturday’s win Neuchâtel Xamax jumped two places up the league table to eight place with Aarau dropping down one place to tenth position.

Lausanne vs Lucerne

In other action, bottom-feeders Lausanne and Lucerne fought it out in Allmend with the French-speaking side winning 3-1.

The game was first-half-heavy with three of the four goals being scored before halftime. Lucerne were first to score when Ricardo Varela shot one past the Lausanne goalie in the 15th minute.

Lausanne’s CharlesWittl equalised in the 37th minute with Leandro following his team-mate’s lead with another goal five minutes before halftime. The West Swiss team then sealed their victory with a third goal in the 87th minute from striker Isaias.

Despite their win, Lausanne have little to celebrate as they are still languishing in 11th place. But they are doing better than their Saturday opponents, Lucerne, who simply can’t seem to budge from bottom of the table. Both sides have lost 14 of this season’s 20 matches.

swissinfo with agencies