Evian edged out Lorient 2-1 to extend their unbeaten run in Ligue 1 to four matches.
The hosts got their noses in front early on through Yannick Sagbo's penalty, and although Gilles Sunu equalised early in the second half, a Daniel Wass strike soon after proved decisive.
Evian coach Bernard Casoni revealed before the match he thought the international break had done his players a world of good.
And he looked to have been proved right when they took the lead after just two minutes.
Romao was brought down in the area by Youssef Adnane and Sagbo made no mistake with the resulting spot-kick, sending Lorient goalkeeper Fabien Audard the wrong way.
Evian came close to adding another after 20 minutes. Cedric Barbosa whipped in a corner which was volleyed goalwards by Sagbo, but this time Audard managed to get a hand to it.
Lorient had to wait until four minutes before the interval for their first chance of note and it should have resulted in a goal, but Sunu's well-struck shot fell inches wide.
Sunu was more accurate a minute into the second half though, getting on the end of a corner from Arnold Mvuemba and turning in the equaliser, despite Evian goalkeeper Bertrand Laquait's best efforts to keep the ball out.
But Evian restored their lead after 58 minutes through Wass, who latched on to a cross from Sagbo and volleyed home.
Lorient had the chance to equalise 10 minutes later, again through Sunu, but the striker saw his shot punched away by Laquait.
