Lille wins at Lorient

The coach of the French champion was rankled by his side conceding five goals at home to Bordeaux last week. The fact his team scored four in reply was little consolation.

So while a victory against Lorient, courtesy of Mathieu Debuchy's 75th-minute strike, was important, the clean sheet which accompanied it capped the evening's work.

The win was also much-needed for its title defence as it got back to eight points behind leader Paris Saint-Germain.

Marseille lost ground on Lille after it was held to a 1-1 draw at home to Valenciennes.

Alou Diarra fired OM ahead on 41 minutes but Carlos Gilberto Gil equalised on 51 minutes.

That result made Toulouse's 3-0 win at Nancy even more important as it breathed fresh life into its bid for European football next season.

Goals by Francois Sirieix and Adrien Regattin had the visitor in control at the break while Emmanuel Riviere made the scoreline that bit more emphatic inside the final 20 minutes.

The win means Toulouse is now into seventh, two points behind OM and a UEFA Europa League place.

Dijon eased its drop fears with a comfortable 3-0 home win over relegation rival Nice.

On-loan midfielder Gael Kakuta opened the scoring just before half-time before second-half goals from Brice Jovial and Koro Kone sealed a good night for the host.

Sidney Govou popped up with an equaliser deep into stoppage-time as Evian drew 2-2 at Caen.

The former France international's first goal for the club since he joined last northern summer denied the host all three points after it had led through Livio Nabab's 57th-minute effort.

Caen had earlier opened the scoring through a Pierre-Alain Frau penalty on the stroke of half-time while Cedric Barbosa struck Evian's first of the night after 50 minutes.

Eduardo had a penalty saved late on as Ajaccio missed the chance to pull away from the relegation zone after a goalless home draw with Brest.

It meant Ajaccio remained just above the drop zone, with a two-point buffer, while a draw was good enough to lift Brest up to 11th.

Bottom club Sochaux and Auxerre remained in the bottom three after a goalless draw.