French Ligue 1: Caen claim win over Lorient

Caen leapfrogged Lorient in the Ligue 1 table with a 2-1 win at the Stade Michel d'Ornano on Saturday.

Lenny Nangis opened the scoring early but Lorient went into the break level thanks to Jordan Ayew's penalty.

That was as good as it got for Sylvain Ripoll's men, though, as Mathieu Duhamel scored a penalty of his own to move Caen on to 12 points, two clear of their visitors.

Caen were ahead after just three minutes through minutes through Nangis. Herve Bazile advanced down the left and delivered a perfect cross for Nangis to head home from six yards.

They came close to doubling their lead 15 minutes later as Emmanuel Imorou freed Duhamel inside the penalty area but Benjamin Lecomte made a smart save.

And Lorient were level in the 24th minute when Damien Da Silva pulled down Jordan Ayew prompting the referee to point to the penalty spot.

Ayew got back to his feet and cooly dispatched the penalty low past Remy Vercoutre.

Thomas Lemar came close to restoring Caen's lead just before the half hour with a free-kick but Lecomte was equal to it.

Four minutes after the break the goalkeeper was called into action gain as N'Golo Kante freed Bazile but Lecomte was once again on hand to save from just outside the area.

The home side were dominating and were back ahead four minutes later when they were handed a penalty, this one for handball by Lamine Gassama.

Duhamel put the spot-kick straight down the middle leaving the diving Lecomte with no chance.

It was all Caen in the second half and Duhamel had a chance for his second when he beat Lamine Kone but could only fire wide.

Florian Raspentino then freed Nangis who was also hunting for a brace but Lecomte again came to the rescue.