Pedretti sends Auxerre top, PSG gloom deepens

Auxerre captured top spot in the French first division on Saturday while Paris St Germain, reeling from the violent death of a supporter, slumped to defeat at Nice in a match played behind closed doors.

Auxerre skipper Benoit Pedretti scored in the second minute of injury time to secure a 2-1 home win over relegation-haunted Le Mans who thought they had snatched a point in the 90th minute when Thorstein Helstad headed home.

But Pedretti scored the winner from the restart after a poor clearance from Le Mans goalkeeper Didier Ovono.

Auxerre had taken a 24th-minute lead when Polish striker Ireneusz Jelen punished another mistake by Ovono to score his 10th goal of the season.

Auxerre, who were top of the table for a week in November, may be deposed as leaders on Sunday when Bordeaux and Montpellier are in action.

PSG, whose future was called into question in midweek after Yann Lorence died following clashes between the two sets of the club’s supporters, slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Nice where all spectators were banned.

Nice, for whom France international striker Loic Remy scored a 78th-minute winner, were punished following crowd trouble at their away game at Monaco in January.

“I don’t understand how we lost this match,” said PSG president Robin Leproux.

“We were the better team, but we have to understand that the season is not over. When the club faces difficult moments, we have to show a team spirit.”

PSG will have to play two more matches behind closed doors following violence at their Parc des Princes home.

The banning order covers Tuesday’s French Cup quarter-final clash against Auxerre and next Sunday’s league visit of Boulogne.

In Saturday’s other games, Rennes swept past Toulouse 4-1 with Ghanaian Asamoah Gyan scoring twice to take his total for the season to 12.

At the bottom of the table, Boulogne boosted their survival hopes with a 2-0 win over Lorient while rock-bottom Grenoble drew 0-0 with Monaco.