Rod Fanni's 94th-minute goal kept Marseille's Ligue 1 title challenge alive with a hard-earned 1-0 victory over Valenciennes at the Stade Velodrome.
Starting the weekend eight points adrift of leaders Paris St Germain, Marseille knew they could not afford another slip after a disappointing run of form since the winter break.
And just when it seemed they would be frustrated again, Fanni beat his man to fire a low shot into the goal and relieve the pressure. The win sends Marseille into second place, at least until Lyon face a tricky trip to Bordeaux on Sunday.
Nice moved up to fourth in Ligue 1 with a narrow 1-0 win at Bastia. Sixteen-year-old Neal Maupay scored the only goal of the game just after the hour mark as the visitors boosted their European hopes.
A penalty from Jeremie Aliadiere and a Kevin Monnet-Paquet goal were enough to secure all three points for Lorient in a 2-1 win against Evian and keep the hosts on the fringes of European qualification in Ligue 1.
Betao scored a late consolation but it was not enough for the visitors, who lie one place above the relegation places in the table.
A solitary goal by Emanuel Herrera guided Montpellier to a narrow 1-0 win over Nancy as they moved up to ninth.
Herrera struck after 34 minutes when he headed home but it was not a dominant performance by Montpellier in any way with Thomas Mangani hitting the bar for the visitors as time wore down.
While Montpellier are in mid-table, Nancy are rock-bottom, their mini-revival apparently over with two successive defeats.
Brest ended a four-game losing streak and inched away from the relegation zone following a 1-1 draw with Ajaccio at the Stade Francis-Le Ble.
Florian Raspentino fired the hosts ahead early on but they were denied a first league home win since November by Dennis Oliech 20 minutes from the end.
With most of Brest's relegation rivals losing today it was, however, a point gained for Landry Chauvin's men following their recent barren run.
Toulouse scored twice in the final five minutes to snatch a point in a dramatic 2-2 draw against Troyes.
Goals from Eden Ben Basat and Etienne Didot, the latter an 88th-minute equaliser, stunned struggling Troyes, who had looked set to claim a much-needed win in a match they dominated.
