Bordeaux enjoy Corsican cruise

FC Girondins de Bordeaux completed an important 2-0 away win at struggling AC Ajaccio on Saturday to keep Ligue 1 leaders Olympique Lyonnais within sight while LOSC Lille Métropole moved into third place.

Denilson lob
Striker Marouane Chamakh broke the deadlock for Bordeaux in the first half in Corsica, opening the scoring with a shot from just inside the area. Denilson made the points safe on the hour with a clever lob, ensuring that his side extended their unbeaten run to nine matches. Although Lyon remain seven points clear at the top with a game in hand over Ricardo Gomes's men, the win at Ajaccio has taken Bordeaux a step closer to qualifying for the UEFA Champions League next season.

Lille delight
"It's a good result because we kept Lyon in sight and we confirmed that we are still in the race," said Bordeaux goalkeeper Frédéric Roux. "They will have to compete with us until the end." Roux's team are eight points ahead of third-placed Lille, who produced a 2-0 victory against AS St-Etienne at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard with goals from Mathieu Debuchy and Kader Keita. AJ Auxerre, meanwhile, fell to a 1-0 defeat against FC Sochaux-Montbéliard and slipped one place to fourth, nine points adrift of Bordeaux.

PSG slip
Le Mans UC 72 moved above out-of-form Paris St-Germain FC with a 1-0 win against PSG at the Parc des Princes thanks to a fifth-minute penalty from forward Cédric Fauré. The win takes Le Mans two points ahead of Olympique de Marseille, who visit bottom side FC Metz on Sunday. OGC Nice secured a 2-0 home win against AS Monaco FC, defeating their local rivals for the second time in 10 days thanks to a David Bellion spot-kick and Bakari Kone's left-foot shot 12 minutes from time.

Lens fall further
Elsewhere, AS Nancy Lorraine won 1-0 at 17th-placed ES Troyes AC to move tenth, level on points with RC Lens, whose slide continued with a 4-1 defeat against Stade Rennais FC, John Utaka scoring a hat-trick against his former club. At the bottom, RC Strasbourg remained 19th despite winning their third game in the league this season, 2-1 at Toulouse FC.