Saint Etienne, France – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a half hat trick to help St Etienne to a 4-2 win over Lorient at the Guichard Stadium on Wednesday.
The match came to life after a scoreless first half as Lorient's Arnold Mvuemba gave his team the lead from the penalty spot in the first five minutes of the second half.
Aubameyang equalized shortly before the hour mark and added a second goal in the 68th minute to put the hosts in front.
Mathias Autret responded 15 minutes from time to level the match for Lorient, but a pair of late goals propelled St Etienne to all three points.
An own goal in the 88th minute from Bruno Ecuele Manga put Lorient behind, and Aubameyang finished off his hat trick a few minutes later by volleying home a pass from Max Gradel.
St Etienne has claimed four wins from its last five games to take hold of fourth place in Ligue 1, while Lorient's struggles continued on Wednesday as the club remains in the bottom half of the league having gone winless in nine games.
Lille 1, Sochaux 0
Montbeliard, France - Lille edged closer to the leaders on Wednesday after securing a 1-0 win at Sochaux courtesy of Nolan Roux's 76th-minute goal.
The win lifts Lille to within six points of leaders PSG having won three of its last four games, with Sochaux rooted to the bottom of the league and winless in 11 games.
Lille's performance was far from convincing and goalkeeper Mickael Landreau needed to push a free kick from Sochaux's Marvin Martin off the post in the first half.
The visitors eventually took the lead when Roux headed home a corner kick 15 minutes from time. But the points weren't safe until the end as Sochaux's Cedric Bakambu beat Landreau with a shot in the final minutes that came back off the post.
Caen 2, Auxerre 1
Caen, France - Caen rallied for a 2-1 win over Auxerre on Wednesday with two goals in the final 20 minutes to move six points above the drop zone.
Auxerre's Roy Contout gave his team the lead on the hour mark but saw Kandia Traore and Livio Nabab combine on the equalizer as Traore took the return pass from Nabab and beat goalkeeper Olivier Sorin.
Caen seized the lead in the 77th minute when Nabab decided to go for goal from 22 yards and found the bottom corner, dooming Auxerre to a third defeat in five games.
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