Cissé strike stalls PSG

Paris Saint-Germain FC missed a gilt-edged opportunity to close ground on the Ligue 1 leaders when they could only manage a 1-1 draw with fourth-placed AJ Auxerre on Sunday evening.

Cana relief
A bizarre sequence of results saw seven of the top eight sides draw their respective matches at the weekend and PSG could have moved level with second-placed Olympique Lyonnais had they won at the Abbé Deschamps. In the event though, the capital club were pleased to get a share of the spoils after spending much of the game trailing to Djibril Cissé's first-half goal. Lorik Cana's 79th-minute equaliser stretched PSG's unbeaten run to 17 matches.

Leaders held
Leaders AS Monaco FC and second-placed Lyon were both held to 1-1 draws on Saturday. Lowly Toulouse opened the scoring against a weary-looking Monaco, who lost 2-1 to FC Lokomotiv Moskva in the UEFA Champions League in midweek, through Sylvain Didot. However Gaël Givet found a way through a tightly-packed Toulouse defence to equalise 20 minutes from time. Meanwhile, Vikash Dhorasoo put visitors Lyon ahead against RC Lens, only for Wagneau Eloi to level the scores, again on 70 minutes.

Fantastic Frau
As the only side in the top eight to win, FC Sochaux Montbéliard climbed fourth following their success by the odd goal in three against SC Bastia. Hot on the heels of securing a 2-2 draw with FC Internazionale in the UEFA Cup in midweek, Sochaux, who dropped Francileudo dos Santos from their squad, were once again indebted to Pierre-Alain Frau, who unleashed what turned out to be the winning goal on the hour.

Honours even
Olympique de Marseille drew 0-0 at neighbours OGC Nice and FC Nantes Atlantique were held to a 1-1 draw by RC Strasbourg. Lille OSC were also forced to settle for a point as they drew 2-2 at home against mid-table Stade Rennais FC. Besides Sochaux, the weekend's only other winners were Lille OSC, who beat SC Montpellier Hérault 2-0, and AC Ajaccio, who were 1-0 winners against FC Girondins de Bordeaux.