Picked up cold by goals from Denis Bouanga and Arnaud Nordin, Les Merlus responded with braces from Ibrahima Koné and Terem Moffi and goals from Enzo Le Fée and Quentin Boisgard.
With this painful setback, the Greens remain roadblockers (27 points), while the Hakes are 4 lengths ahead of them and 8 over Bordeaux and Metz (23 points), the two relegation players, who are to face each other on Sunday.
The Greens quickly threw a chill on the Moustoir: on a cross from Thimothée Kolodziejczak, captain in the absence of Wahbi Kazri, Bouanga opened the scoring with a header at the far post (0-1, 4th).
And Pascal Dupraz's men continued to press to drive the point home through Arnaud Nordin, who slipped into the area to find a tight angle (0-2, 22nd).
Opposite, the Hakes may have felt cursed for a time, with a goal from Koné canceled for a questionable offside, two splendid parries from Paul Bernardoni on free kicks from Armand Laurienté (9th, 35th) or even two clear chances missed for Moffi (25th, 30th).
But the efforts of Christophe Pélissier's men paid off at the end of the first period, first on a penalty obtained by Houboulang Mendes and converted by Moffi (1-2, 41st), then when Koné pushed a cross from Mendes (2-2, 45th).
Saint-Etienne coach Pascal Dupraz as his team leads in Lorient before its collapse, April 8, 2022 at Moustoir FRED TANNEAU AFP
Left on a rhythm more chopped by the faults, the match was decided at the hour of play: ideally launched by Laurienté, Le Fée, the child of the country, tumbled alone on the right to give the advantage to his (3-2, 61st).
Then Koné did it again (4-2, 65th) and the Greens definitely took the water, like Yvan Neyou, missing since December, came into play in the 62nd and excluded from the 68th after taking two cards yolks in one minute.
Enough to launch the hola among the more than 15,400 spectators, especially as the festival continued with Moffi (5-2, 86th) and Boisgard (6-2, 89th).
© 2022 AFP