Andre-Pierre Gignac scored an 85th-minute equaliser as Marseille had to be content with a home draw against Toulouse as they failed to make up maximum ground on leaders Lille.
Lille suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at Monaco on Saturday but champions Marseille were thankful for Gignac to even allow them to reduce the gap slightly to three points. Loic Remy opened the scoring for OM on the half-hour but they fell behind to strikes from Daniel Braaten and Mauro Cetto either side of half-time.
With time ticking down a defensive mistake allowed Remy to slip a cross for Gignac who, despite missing some earlier chances, made no mistake to snatch a point.
John Utaka's missed penalty proved costly as Montpellier lost further ground in the race for European qualification with a draw against lowly Nice at Stade de la Mosson.
The home side have won just once in their last six games and they now lie seven points behind fourth-placed Lyon with eight games remaining. They had taken the lead here through Geoffrey Dernis' solo effort but Utaka was then denied by the woodwork from the spot.
And they were pegged back as keeper Geoffrey Jourdren put through his own net. The draw helped Nice's battle against relegation but they remained just two points above the drop zone.
In Sunday's late game, Lyon moved up to third with a 3-0 home win over Lens - all the goals coming in the second half.
Henri Bedimo's own goal opened the scoring in the 55th minute and Jimmy Briand doubled OL's advantage six minutes later before Lisandro Lopez rounded off the scoring in stoppage time.
The result left Lyon five points off the summit with eight games to play.
