Rennes up to second

Rennes moved up to second in Ligue 1 with a 1-0 win over fellow high-flyers Paris St Germain.

After Lyon drew 0-0 with Valenciennes and Nice's match with Grenoble was postponed because of bad weather, there was a chance for the chasing pack to make up ground.

And Rennes was the only team who could do so, seeing off rivals PSG courtesy of Bruno Cheyrou's goal on the stroke of half-time which put them within five points of the leaders.

PSG keeper Mickael Landreau made several stunning saves but inexplicably let Cheyrou's weak effort past him.

Marseille would have gone second with a win at Toulouse but they could manage only a goalless draw.

The visitors have taken just two points from their last nine when a maximum haul would have seen them top the table.

St Etienne ended a run of seven straight Ligue 1 defeats as goals from Paulo Machado and David Gigliotti lifted them from bottom to 17th with a 2-1 win at Nancy.

The pair put Les Verts 2-0 up before half-time before Nancy saw goalkeeper Gennaro Bracigliano sent off 12 minutes after the break - though Bafetimbi Gomis missed the resulting penalty.

The hosts pulled one back through Issiar Dia after 75 minutes.

Elsewhere on a bad weekend for the top six, Bordeaux was held to a goalless draw at Sochaux.

And Lille, held 1-1 by Lorient, missed the chance to put itself in the heart of the Ligue 1 chasing pack.

They got the perfect start when Michel Bastos opened the scoring after seven minutes, but defender Adil Rami scored an own goal 11 minutes before the break and Lorient came closest to winning the match when Morgan Amalfitano hit the post.

Nantes ended a run of six games without a win with victory, winning 2-0 at relegation rivals Le Havre.

Filip Djordjevic and substitute David De Freitas scored in the final 21 minutes to settle this clash of top-flight new boys and give Nantes the edge in the race to avoid an immediate return to the second tier.

Le Mans picked up a second win in three games after overcoming mid-table rivals Caen 2-0 at the Stade Leon Bollee.

A dominant performance was capped off by second-half goals from Modibo Maiga and Gervinho, as Yves Bertucci's side start to look like it has overcome its recent slump.

Monaco moved three points above Auxerre with a fourth win in six matches thanks to a first-half goal from Croatian striker Nikola Pokrivac.

The result took Ricardo's men into 10th place in Ligue 1 and inflicted a second straight defeat on the Burgundy side after it lost to Caen last time out.

Nancy 1 (Dia 75)
St Etienne 2 (Machado 9, Gigliotti 43)

Rennes 1 (Cheyrou 45)
PSG 0

Toulouse 0
Marseille 0