Metz have continued their impressive start to the season by climbing into fifth spot in the Ligue 1 table, thanks to a comfortable 3-0 victory over nine-man Reims this evening.

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The hosts produced two fantastic chances in the first minute of play when Juan Falcon headed straight at the keeper from a cross, before winger Florent Malouda was denied from inside the box by goalkeeper Sacha Bastien.

Bastien was in fine form during the first half and he was at it again to deny Sergei Krivets, who tried to rifle home with his left from around 10 yards, only to be denied in the top corner by the goalkeeper.

Visitors Reims were dealt a blow just before the half ended as their star performer had to be replaced by Cyriak Garel in between the posts, as the initial 45 minutes ended goalless.

The hosts came out of the blocks the quickest in the second period and they made it count when lone striker Falcon rose highest to head home from Gaetan Bussmann's cross.

Reims' plight was made more difficult in the 65th minute as Chris Mavinga lost his cool and was finally awarded a second yellow card and given his marching orders by the referee.

Metz cemented their three points with just under 20 minutes left to play, thanks to Ahmed Kashi who headed into the top corner from Bussmann's cross to make it 2-0.

The pain didn't stop for Reims as Mads Albaek was given a straight red with a few minutes to play, before Falcon wrapped up the game with a smart finish during injury time to leave the final score at 3-0.