Montpellier drew level on points with league leaders Paris St Germain, while struggling Nice endured a night to forget as they saw red.
Montpellier maintain title push as Nice have three men sent off
Montpellier drew level on points with league leaders Paris St Germain, while struggling Nice endured a night to forget as they saw red.
Elsewhere, Ajaccio picked up a welcome point and there were wins for Dijon and Evian.
Montpellier remain second in the Ligue 1 standings but are now level on points - having played a game more - with PSG following a 1-0 victory over
Marseille.
An own goal from Souleymane Diawara after 62 minutes settled the tie in favour of the hosts in Saturday's late kick-off.
Earlier in the day, lowly
Nice were beaten 2-0 by
St Etienne in a game which saw them reduced to eight men.
Things started badly for Nice when they saw goalkeeper David Ospina dismissed on 22 minutes.
Florent Sinama Pongolle converted from the spot and the home side saw red again on 29 minutes when Eric Mouloungui was given his marching orders.
Kurt Zouma added a second for St Etienne six minutes before half-time and a miserable afternoon for Nice was compounded four minutes from time when Renato Civelli was sent off.
Welcome win
Dijon picked up their first win in seven outings as they saw off
Bordeaux 2-0.
Brice Jovial (69) and Benjamin Corgnet (73) netted twice in the space of four minutes to wrap up the points.
The only blot of Dijon's copybook was the dismissal of Damien Marcq with five minutes remaining.
Evian edged out
Lorient 2-1 to pull five points clear of the drop zone.
Yannick Sagbo handed them the perfect start when he fired home a second minute penalty, but Lamine Kone levelled matters two minutes into the second half.
Evian were not to be denied, though, and restored their lead shortly before the hour mark thanks to Daniel Wass.
Ajaccio remain bottom of the table but displayed commendable battling qualities to snatch a 2-2 draw against
Caen.
Former West Ham striker Ilan put them in front from the spot seven minutes after the interval, but Molla Wague (64) and Lenny Nangis (70) turned the tie on its head.
It appeared as though Ajaccio were facing up to another pointless weekend, but Benjamin Andre pounced in stoppage-time to steal a share of the spoils.
