Ligue 1 wrap: Marseille close the gap

Marseille are one point from the summit of Ligue 1 after coming back at the death to beat Montpellier 3-2 on Saturday.

Elie Baup’s men went into the game at the Stade Velodrome four points behind Lyon and got off to the perfect start when Andre Ayew converted a Joey Barton pass to open the scoring on 14 minutes.

But Montpellier responded immediately with Emanuel Herrera scoring just minute later to level the scores.

Last year’s champions then hit the front after 56 minutes when former Portsmouth striker John Utaka scored his fourth goal of the season.

The away side were unable to hold on however with Jordan Ayew levelling the scores with 11 minutes remaining before Andre Gignac popped up in injury time to steal a dramatic win for Marseille.

Lorient moved into fourth place on the table with a 3-2 win of their own over Troyes.

First half-goals from Kevin Monnet-Paquet and Enzo Reale appeared to have set Les Merlus on their way to a comfortable win but Troyes dragged themselves back into the game through Jeremie Brechet on 66 minutes.

But Lorient restored their two-goal cushion when Gregory Bourillon turned in a Reale pass and although a Fabien Camus goal with two left set up a nervy finish, Christian Gourcuff’s side held on to record an important win.

Toulouse condemned Nancy to another week at the foot of the table after their 2-1 win at the Stadium Municipal.

A second half double from Franck Tabanou was enough to see Toulouse over the line with Lossemy Karaboue scoring a consolation goal for Nancy in the last minute of the game.

In the day’s other matches, St Etienne recorded a 1-0 away win over Brest to stay in the hunt for a European berth, Sochaux overcame Reims 1-0 at home to pull away from the relegation zone while Ajaccio and Valenciennes played out a 1-1 draw.