Marseille, France – Marseille strengthened its hold on second place in Ligue 1 on Saturday as Andre-Pierre Gignac scored a goal in each half to lift Marseille to a 2-1 win over Bastia at the Stade Velodrome.
Gignac fired his side in front after 11 minutes when he took a pass from Mathieu Valbuena and eluded a defender before beating goalkeeper Mickael Landreau from 20 yards.
The lead was nearly doubled just before halftime when Gignac volleyed a shot off the crossbar, but Bastia equalized shortly after the break through Florian Thauvin, who scored from 25 yards after being set up by Julien Sable's pass.
The winning goal arrived nine minutes from time and once again it was Valbuena who set up Gignac with a nice ball, allowing the forward to beat a defender and drive his shot past Landreau to move Marseille to within six points of leaders PSG, which will face Valenciennes on Sunday.
There was a bit of a shift at the bottom of Ligue 1 as Brest dropped to last place following a 2-1 defeat at Montpellier as Souleymane Camara converted a penalty kick for the home side in the 74th minute, while Troyes moved to within four points of safety after a 1-0 triumph over Evian that came courtesy of Jean Bahebeck's 78th-minute goal.
That result also pulled Evian into the bottom three after Sochaux claimed a 1-0 win over Lorient to climb three points clear of the relegation places.
Reims and Ajaccio played to a 1-1 draw in a battle of bottom-half sides, and Toulouse toppled Lille, 4-2, with goals from Daniel Braathen and Eden Ben Basat to break a 2-2 deadlock in the second half.
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