Marseille stop the rot at Rennes

Marseille's worrying losing five-match run finally came to an end at Rennes on Saturday in a 1-1 draw marked by a saved penalty from Marseille captain Steve Mandanda. Rennes's Portuguese striker Nelson Oliveira put the hosts in front from 20 metres on nine minutes, only for his effort to be cancelled out by Jordan Ayew after quarter of an hour. With a lack of concentration in the Rennes defence Ayew struck right-footed from near the penalty spot for the Ghana striker's first goal in 10 months of Ligue 1 action. In the 73rd minute Rennes were awarded a penalty after Kassim Abdallah fouled Foued Kadir. Oliveira stepped up to take the spot kick but his effort was denied by Marseille keeper Mandanda, much to the delight of the travelling fans. This stalemate, after three losses in the league and two in the Champions league, lifted Marseille up to fifth, on 18 points. Rennes are one point behind in eighth. Marseille manager Elie Baup suggested the draw signified that his team had "character". But he warned: "There's still lots of work to do...but this will do us good." Asked if he was concerned after conceding an early goal he remarked: "Rennes always start at 2,000 kilometres an hour, we knew that, and had to hold on. We did well to come back at them. "Now we've stopped the bleeding, we've got to continue with the cure." Later, Lyon ended their five-match winless run with a 2-0 home victory over Guingamp, Reims ran out 4-2 winners over Bastia, Valenciennes came away from their trip to Ajaccio as 3-1 victors, Evian/Thonon saw off Toulouse 2-1 and Sochaux and Saint Etienne ended 0-0. The Ligue 1 summit is occupied by defending champions Paris Saint Germain, who moved three points clear of Monaco with a 4-0 rout of Lorient on Friday. The result at a rain-drenched Parc des Princes extended PSG's unbeaten league run to 23 games. The goals came from Lucas, Jeremy Menez and an Edinson Cavani double. "We scored goals, created lots of chances and kept the ball despite the difficult weather conditions," said manager Laurent Blanc. "Our philosophy for the game is the same whatever team we put out. There are players who have little playing time but they always demonstrate their qualities." Monaco have the chance to draw level with PSG on Sunday with a win at Lille. Later Saturday, Ajaccio sacked Fabrizio Ravanelli as coach after the 3-1 home defeat to Valenciennes left them second from bottom of the table. "We have decided to call a halt to our collaboration with Fabrizio Ravanelli," said Ajaccio president Alain Orsoni. "It wasn't an easy decision." Ravanelli is the third Ligue 1 coach to be sacked this season after Eric Hely at Sochaux and Daniel Sanchez at Valenciennes. Source: AFP