Monaco stay on course for all four
 |  Souleymane Camara (red) battles for the ball as Monaco beat Montpellier |
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PARIS, France -- Monaco remain on course for four potential trophies as a mainly reserve team beat second division Montpellier 2-1 to ease into the French League Cup semi-finals.
Second-half Goals from Emmanuel Adebayor and youngster Olivier Vegnaut gave them a two goal cushion.
The hosts struck back with 10 minutes remaining through Jerome Lafourcade but the French giants held on.
Didier Deschamps side - who are also still in contention for the Champions League, French title and French Cup - were joined by St Etienne, Caen and Strasbourg, who overcame a spirited fight by second division Clermont to win 3-2.
A second string Monaco side looked to be in trouble as early as the eighth minute when Herve Bugnet was found unmarked from Guillaume Moullec's freekick but his header scraped Fabien Audard's bar.
Monaco took their time to settle understandably given the unfamiliar line-up and it was only in the 16th minute they had their first shot on target as Lucas Bernardi's fierce shot from outside the area was turned away for a corner.
However, that opened up a period of intense pressure from the visitors and Togolese striker Adebayor was only denied a goal by Montpellier Laurent Pionnier beating away his header off the goal line.
Montpellier stayed solid and came back into the match with two efforts that caused Audard concern with a freekick from Moullec that was deflected off Souleymane Camara's leg and with a stranded Audard watched with evident relief as the ball bounced to safety off the post.
Audard was again a spectator as in the 37th minute Bugnet' volley crept just over the bar.
However, in spite of constant pressure from the hosts it was Monaco who grabbed the lead in the 59th minute as Adebayor was found by a superbly weighted pass by Bernardi and he shot past Pionnier from just inside the penalty area.
Monaco looked to have wrapped it up with 12 minutes remaining as defender Vegnaut fed by David Gigliotti saw his shot from the left flank hit the back of the net.
The hosts though made Monaco sweat as they reduced the deficit two minutes later when Lafourcade tricked Joseph Oshadogan and then poked it past the advancing Audard.
Earlier on Wednesday, Caen had upset the formbook when the fourth from bottom side in the championship beat fourth from top Auxerre 6-5 on penalties.
The Norman side refused to lie down as they went 1-0 down in extra-time before levelling three minutes later and finally prevailed in a nervewracking shootout.
Auxerre manager Guy Roux shrugged off the defeat but admitted he might never win one of the few trophies to elude him.
"It is a trophy that is dearer to me than anything else," he said.
"Of course I have never won it and they say I am the Poulidor (French cycling legend Raymond Poulidor who never won the Tour de France placing second three times and third five times). But there again Poulidor wasn't too bad."
On Tuesday, former giants St Etienne handed out a masterclass to Lens, overwhelming them 3-0 and putting them in sight of their first piece of silverware since clinching their 10th league title in 1981.
