French Ligue 1

Evian Thonon Gaillard 0-2 Lille

Lille stretched their unbeaten Ligue 1 run to four matches with victory at struggling Evian tonight.

Nolan Roux and Florent Balmont were on target for the visitors, who are now up to seventh in the table after winning three of their last four matches.

Evian, who lie one place above the bottom three, had an unexpected break last weekend when their fixture at Sochaux was postponed because of snow.

And they had the first chance tonight on rested legs, with Fabrice Ehret spooning a shot inches over the bar after eight minutes.

Lille responded four minutes later with a free-kick from Aurelien Chedjou, which fell narrowly wide, while Dimitri Payet's low right-footed strike forced a decent save from goalkeeper Stephan Andersen as the visitors threatened once more.

And they went in front six minutes before the interval through Roux, who rose to meet a cross from Payet before heading past a stranded Andersen.

Evian came out fighting at the start of the second half and a powerful header from substitute Aldo Angoula had to be blocked on the line by goalkeeper Mickael Landreau.

Tie Bi then set up Yannick Sagbo, who tried his luck from a tight angle only to see the ball beaten away once again by Landreau.

Lille coped well under the pressure and hit back with their second goal after 61 minutes. Laurent Bonnart curled in a cross from the left with Balmont waiting in the area to slam the ball home right footed.

Evian refused to buckle, however, and were unlucky not to get something for their efforts nine minutes from time with Youssef Adnane's superb strike matched by an excellent save on the line from Landreau.