Lorient edge to victory

Lorient edged out Toulouse 1-0 but it was not the sort of performance required to suggest their recent poor form is over.

Lorient edged out Toulouse 1-0 but it was not the sort of convincing performance required to suggest their recent poor form is over. Christian Gourcuff's side came into the game with only one win in nine and a clear mission to turn things around at home. Benjamin Corgnet's goal on the stroke of half-time proved enough for the three points, but their failure to put the game away despite a string of early chances led to a nervy finish. It took almost half-an-hour for Lorient to get into their stride but once they had a series of chances came. In the 28th minute, Corgnet created space for himself and then teed up Pedrinho for a powerful shot that tested Ali Ahamada, who turned it away at the expense of a corner. Yann Jouffre's effort from distance then had a similar result with Ahamada getting enough on the ball to turn it away. From the resulting corner the ball fell for Corgnet but from close range the goalkeeper stood firm once more. He was finally beaten in the 45th minute when Jeremie Aliadiere found Corgnet with a low cross and his first-time shot beat Ahamada, who will have been disappointed not to save it having already kept out better efforts. Toulouse came back at them in the second half, with Jean-Daniel Akpo-Akpro embarking on a superb run in the 54th minute, eluding several defenders before playing in Wissam Ben Yedder, but Fabian Audard was alert to the danger as he came racing off his line to smother the ball. Both teams then had penalty appeals waved away. First, Toulouse's Cheikh M'Bengue tumbled under a challenge from Pedrinho and then, moments later, Aliadiere clashed with Akpo-Akpro, but the referee took interest in neither incident. Aliadiere fluffed a chance to double the lead in the 70th minute when picked out by Kevin Monnet-Paquet, but his first effort was blocked by Jonathan Zebina, and the ex-Arsenal man lost his footing at the critical moment as he went for the rebound. There was a late chance for Julien Quercia to make it comfortable it for Lorient, but he rushed his shot from a great position, and Ahamada gathered.