Marseille narrow gap with Lyon

By Chris Burke

A superb long-range effort from Benoît Pedretti moved Olympique de Marseille up into second place in Ligue 1 with a tight 1-0 victory away to SC Bastia, while new Paris Saint-Germain FC coach Laurent Fournier was brought back down to earth in a 3-1 loss to RC Strasbourg.

Pedretti stunner
Rallied by January-signing Christian Karembeu, 19th-placed Bastia kept Marseille extremely quiet throughout the first-half and even began to assert control after the break. But they were left stunned in the 63rd minute when France international Pedretti curled a brilliant shot into the top corner of Nicolas Penneteau's goal from 25 metres out. His strike made it three straight wins for Marseille, and puts them six points behind leaders Olympique Lyonnais, who drew 1-1 with AS Monaco FC on Friday.

Fournier defeat
PSG are still without a league win this year as their new coach got his first taste of defeat. Mamadou Niang put home-side Strasbourg ahead on 20 minutes, before Pauleta missed a chance to equalise when he blasted a penalty over the bar. Mickaël Pagis then showed him how to do it from the spot and Yacine Abdessadki put the Alsace side three up, with Guillaume Lacour's late own-goal a mere consolation for Fournier's men, who stay 12th.

Garonne derby
Toulouse FC jumped up into sixth with a 1-0 derby victory over FC Girondins de Bordeaux. Watched by France coach Raymond Domenech, Daniel Moreira ended a run of three straight defeats for the home side by heading in the winner after 78 minutes. Elsewhere, ninth-placed RC Lens continued their own march up the table as goals from Daniel Cousin and Eric Carrière handed FC Nantes Atlantique a 2-0 defeat.

Maoulida double
Meanwhile, Toifilou Maoulida was twice on target for Brittany side Stade Rennais FC, who made it six home wins on the trot by despatching OGC Nice 4-1. Their Normandy neighbours SM Caen had less success, though, twice surrendering the lead at home to AC Ajaccio in a 2-2 draw. In Sunday's matches, LOSC Lille Métropole can reclaim second spot if they beat FC Metz away, while AS Saint-Etienne face FC Sochaux-Montbéliard and FC Istres host AJ Auxerre.