Andre-Pierre Gignac scored his first international goal to give France a 1-0 win over modest Faroe Islands in a 2010 World Cup qualifier on Wednesday.

France dominated against the largely amateur side from the

North Atlantic but had to wait until shortly before the break to

open the scoring, Gignac collecting the ball with his back to

goal and turning around to strike from close range.

Second-placed France closed the gap on European Group Seven

leaders Serbia, who have played one more game, to five points.

"I had said that our goal was three points so I'm not going

to complain," France coach Raymond Domenech told French

television channel TF1. "We did create a lot of chances but it's

true that we failed to convert most of them."

Forward Franck Ribery, who has just recovered from a knee

problem and missed his Bayern Munich side's Bundesliga opener

last weekend, came on for the last 25 minutes and was his usual,

energetic self.

The best player in a France side that squandered many

opportunities was arguably Toulouse striker Gignac, who not only

scored but kept trying throughout the game.

"We knew it would be complicated against opponents

concentrating on defending," the powerful 23-year-old told TF1.

"It would have been nice to score more goals but we did show

that we are capable of creating chances."

The former world and European champions, facing a struggle

to avoid a play-off, will entertain Romania in their next game

on Sept. 5 before facing Serbia four days later in Belgrade.

The Faroe Islands, who fought bravely but were rarely

dangerous, stay bottom of the group with one point from six

games.