A brace from Wendel helped Bordeaux get back to winning ways against St Etienne.

Marouane Chamakh opened the scoring in the 13th minute and Wendel doubled their lead just before the half-hour mark.

Bakary Sako pulled one back for the visitors just before half-time and they had a brilliant chance to level the scores in the 71st minute but Gonzalo Bergessio sent a penalty wide and Wendel sealed the result eight minutes later.

It was harsh on St Etienne, who deserved much more from the game and now find themselves just six points above the drop zone.

Bordeaux were desperate for victory after a week which had seen them suffer a 4-2 defeat in the league to Rennes and get dumped out of the Coupe de France by Monaco.

Chamakh headed them into the lead in the 13th minute when he nodded in Wendel's free-kick for his eighth goal of the season.

Boubacar Sanogo came close to equalising four minutes later as his free-kick forced Cedric Carrasso into a save at full stretch.

But the hosts soon doubled their advantage when Wendel curled an unstoppable free-kick into the top left corner.

The Brazilian almost scored an immediate second but he sent his effort skimming over the crossbar.

St Etienne got back into the game on the stroke of half-time as Sako powered a thunderbolt of a free-kick into the back of the net. The visitors came close to levelling in the 67th minute when Emmanuel Riviere's effort was deflected by Bordeaux defender Marc Planus but Carrasso pulled off another vital save.

St Etienne's good work looked like being rewarded moments later following Chamakh's handball only for Bergessio to fire his spot-kick wide of the right upright.

They were left to rue that miss as Wendel all but sealed the result 11 minutes from time, latching onto Yoan Gouffran's through-ball and driving home under pressure from Yohan Benalouane.

Bordeaux had the chance to make the scoreline more comfortable but Jeremy Janot was on hand first to keep out Gouffran's acrobatic scissor-kick and then to deny Gregory Sertic.