Bordeaux squandered the chance to make up ground on Ligue 1 leaders Lyon as they slipped to a shock 3-1 defeat at ninth-placed Valenciennes.Sebastien Roudet opened the scoring for the hosts in the 10th minute on Saturday but their lead lasted just four minutes before Wendel equalised.

Second-half goals from Filip Sebo and Steve Savidan sealed VA's victory.

A Bordeaux win would have closed the gap to three points with Lyon playing on Sunday but Les Girondins now face the prospect of trailing by nine points after the weekend's fixtures.

Nancy are now only three points behind Bordeaux after they ensured they remained third in Ligue 1 with a last-gasp 2-1 victory against rock-bottom Metz.

In a pulsating final spell, Vincent Bessat's 87th-minute equaliser looked to have salvaged a point for Metz but Moncaf Zerka was the hero for the hosts when he netted with a minute left - though there was still time for Mickael Chretien to earn a red card.

Youssouf Hadji had earlier given Nancy the lead shortly after the break.

Marseille's miserable week continued as their hopes of claiming a Champions League place suffered a major blow following their 1-0 defeat at home to relegation-threatened Sochaux.

Eric Gerets saw his side lose to amateur club Carquefou in the last 16 of the Coupe de France in midweek and, while Guiranne N'Daw's long-range strike after three minutes did not condemn them to quite the same level of humiliation, it has nonetheless undermined their European aspirations.

Sochaux moved out of the relegation zone with the win, their sixth match unbeaten, to leapfrog above Paris Saint-Germain who fell into the drop zone.

Nice's dreams of qualifying for Europe took a blow on Saturday as they were beaten 2-1 by eighth-placed Lorient.

Marama Vahirua opened the scoring for the visitors in the 11th minute before Bakari Kone grabbed the equaliser six minutes into the second half.

But Rafik Saifi's 72nd-minute goal ensured Les Merlus took all three points back to Brittany.

Relegation-threatened Toulouse came from behind to scrape a 1-1 draw against Le Mans on Saturday.

Hassan Yebda put Les Manceaux ahead after 28 minutes but Andre-Pierre Gignac levelled just after the hour mark.

Les Violets still have not won since mid-December, but a point may be more than they expected against Le Mans, who have never lost against them in the top flight.

A point leaves them second from bottom, while Le Mans stay sixth.

Caen hit four second-half goals past Monaco to take the game 4-1 and seal an emphatic comeback on Saturday - their first victory of 2008.

Cedric Hengbart, Jeremy Sorbon, Yoan Gouffran and Issam Jemaa all scored in the last half an hour of the game to cancel out Massamba Lo Sambou's early opener and finally put an end to Caen's Ligue 1 free-fall.

Franck Dumas' side last took three points from a game in late December.

Elsewhere Lille beat Strasbourg 1-0 and St Etienne came from behind to stun Auxerre 3-1, with all three of their goals coming in the final half-hour.

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