Lille's French midfielder Eric Bautheac (R) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during the French L1 football match between Lille OSC and FC Lorient on December 12, 2015 at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Villeneuve d'Ascq, northern France. AFP PHOTO / PHILIPPE HUGUEN / AFP / PHILIPPE HUGUEN (Photo credit should read PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images)
Lille made it three successive wins for the first time this season with a comfortable 3-0 victory against Lorient at the Stade Pierre Mauroy.
The hosts raced in to a first-half lead when Florent Balmont's superb cross was nodded home at the back post by Eric Bautheac. And Lille all but wrapped up the points with little over 10 minutes played in the second-half when Bautheac pounced for his second after Benjamin Lecomte had parried Yacine Benzia's effort.
There was still time for the hosts to round off a successful evening late on when Djibril Sidibe added a third on 84 minutes after playing a neat one-two with Sofiane Boufal.
Montpellier came from behind to claim a fifth home win in six with a 2-1 defeat of 10-man Guingamp.
The visitors were first to make the breakthrough as Sloan Privat headed beyond Laurent Pionnier on 33 minutes before their evening took a rapid turn for the worse when Nicolas Benezet was given his marching orders moments later. And that dismissal proved costly as La Paillaide levelled just after the break when Souleymane Camara smahed a header beyond Jonas Lossl from Ryad Boudebouz's perfect delivery.
The turnaround was complete on 61 minutes when Jerome Roussillon and Camara combined to tee up Rodrigue Ninga for his fifth goal in four games. The visitors went ahead in the 32nd minute through Sloan Privat, who brilliantly directed a header behind him and into the far corner from Yannis Salibur's cross.
Bottom club Troyes' winless run was extended to an 18th game, but they at least picked up their seventh point of the season in a 1-1 draw with Bastia. Jimmy Cabot's fine volley for the basement dwellers cancelled out Seko Fofana's controlled finish midway through the first period.
It also finished 1-1 between Nantes and Toulouse, who finished the game with 10 men when Issa Diop was sent off in the final minute for shoving an opponent.
Aleksandar Pesic rounded off a breakaway attack to open the scoring for Toulouse before the hosts struck back through Emiliano Sala's header with three minutes to go.
Nice scored for the first time in four games as they drew 1-1 with Reims in Ligue 1.
A sixth-minute header from Valere Germain was Nice's first goal since their 3-0 win over Lyon on November 20, but they were unable to stop their winless streak extending to four games. Diego Rigonato fired home a penalty for Reims to earn a point after Vincent Koziello had handled inside the area late on.
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