Auxerre climbed out of the relegation zone after a 2-0 victory at Dijon which compounded their opponents' own fears of the drop.
Contout and Ndinga goals see off fellow strugglers Dijon
Auxerre climbed out of the relegation zone after a 2-0 victory at Dijon which compounded their opponents' own fears of the drop.
Roy Contout and Delvin Ndinga scored the goals to secure a win which lifted Auxerre off the bottom of the table and towards safety with three games left to play.
In contrast, Dijon are inside the bottom three on goal difference and have now suffered five consecutive defeats in Ligue 1 without scoring a goal.
Dijon had started brightly in a game re-arranged from Wednesday due to bad weather, with Benjamin Corgnet firing a powerful right-foot shot from 25 yards which was well saved by Auxerre goalkeeper Olivier Sorin.
The visitors grabbed the lead in the 28th minute when Alain Traore cut in from the left between two defenders and crossed for Contout to firmly head the opener past Baptiste Reynet.
Reynet prevented Auxerre going further ahead when he saved from Olivier Kapo two minutes later, but Dijon missed a glorious chance to equalise on 42 minutes when Brice Jovial headed wide with the goal at his mercy.
The hosts continued to push at the start of the second half with Eric Bautheac firing just wide, then the same player skimmed the bar with a rising effort after a poor clearance by Stephane Grichting.
Dijon hit the bar again on 74 minutes from Jovial's 25-yard shot, but the home side were made to pay five minutes from time when Ndinga burst out of midfield and fired a superb second from long range.