Marseille on Bordeaux´s shoulder

Marseille, whose last league title came 18 seasons ago, Saturday moved second on the shoulders of leaders Bordeaux as second half goals from Gabriel Heinze and a penalty from Taye Taiwo saw off struggling Boulogne.

The win took Marseille onto 28 points from 15 games – three adrift of Bordeaux, who face fellow Champions League qualifiers Lyon away on Sunday.

After struggling to break down well-drilled rivals in the opening period at an impatient Stade Velodrome the hosts finally made the breakthrough when former Manchester United defender Heinze converted a near-post corner from Benoit Cheyrou three minutes after the interval.

And the southerners made the game safe on 54 minutes when Damien Marcq fouled Argentine striker Lucho in the box to enable Nigerian Taiwo to convert the resulting spotkick.

Boulogne ended the encounter a man down after Olubayo Adefemi was dismissed three minutes from time for an overly hefty tackle on Marseille midfield maestro Hatem Ben Arfa.

As the winter break draws ever closer the top half of the table is tight with only seven points separating Bordeaux from tenth-placed Toulouse.

Lyon, putting European ambitions to bed until the spring, will be doubly keen therefore to beat the leaders on Sunday as they are just two points ahead of a Toulouse side who host third-placed Montpellier Sunday evening.

Rennes went fourth overnight, level on points with Lyon, after a 2-1 win at Nancy secured with Sylvain Marveaux’s second-half winner.

Lens, champions in 1998, benefited from that result to move ahead of Nancy in to midtable after Kanga Akale and Toifilou Maoulida scored in a 2-0 home win over Nice, whom the hosts likewise leapfrogged.

Any hopes that Valenciennes harboured of edging a point ahead of Marseille were dashed when the northern club went down 2-1 at Le Mans, who remain in the drop zone.

Lorient were meeting Auxerre in the late game while on Sunday, Paris St Germain will attempt to move into the top half of the table with a win over St Etienne at Parc de Princes and Lille travel to Monaco with an eye on the top six.