Rudi Garcia's tough talking paid off on Saturday night as his Lille side returned to winning ways with a 1-0 win at Lorient.

Debuchy: Scored Lille's goal

The manager of the French champions was rankled by his side conceding five goals at home to Bordeaux last week. The fact his team scored four in reply was little consolation.

So while a victory against Lorient, courtesy of Mathieu Debuchy's 75th-minute strike, was important, the clean sheet which accompanied it capped the evening's work.

The win was also much-needed for their title defence as they got back to eight points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain.

Marseille lost ground on Lille after they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Valenciennes.

Alou Diarra fired OM ahead on 41 minutes but Carlos Gilberto Gil equalised on 51 minutes.

That result made Toulouse's 3-0 win at Nancy even more important as they breathed fresh life into their bid for European football next season.

Goals by Francois Sirieix and Adrien Regattin had the visitors in control at the break while Emmanuel Riviere made the scoreline that bit more emphatic inside the final 20 minutes.

The win means Toulouse are now into seventh, two points behind OM and a Europa League place.

Dijon eased their drop fears with a comfortable 3-0 home win over relegation rivals Nice.

On-loan midfielder Gael Kakuta opened the scoring just before half-time before second-half goals from Brice Jovial and Koro Kone sealed a good night for the hosts.

Sidney Govou popped up with an equaliser deep into stoppage time as Evian drew 2-2 at Caen.

The former France international's first goal for the club since he joined last summer denied the hosts all three points after they had led through Livio Nabab's 57th-minute effort.

Caen had earlier opened the scoring through a Pierre-Alain Frau penalty on the stroke of half-time while Cedric Barbosa struck Evian's first of the night after 50 minutes.

Eduardo had a penalty saved late on as Ajaccio missed the chance to pull away from the relegation zone following a goalless home draw with Brest.

It meant Ajaccio remained just above the drop zone, with a two-point buffer, while a draw was good enough to lift Brest up to 11th.

Bottom club Sochaux and Auxerre remained in the bottom three following a goalless draw.