French Ligue One Roundup, Sep. 26

French Ligue One Roundup, Sep. 26

Published Sep. 26, 2010 6:46 p.m. ET

Toulouse missed the chance to move level with Saint-Etienne at the top of the French league on Sunday when it drew 1-1 at home with Lille.

Ivory Coast forward Gervinho's third league goal of the season gave Lille a 1-0 lead in the 27th minute. Antoine Devaux equalized in the 75th for Toulouse.

Gervinho ran onto a long pass from defender David Rozehnal and controlled the ball on his knee before clipping it past goalkeeper Matthieu Valverde.

Devaux's finish was equally cool, drifting out to the right of the penalty area to collect a pass and then neatly flicking the ball over the shoulder of goalkeeper Mickael Landreau.

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Toulouse is in third place with 14 points after seven rounds, one point behind Rennes and two behind Saint-Etienne.

"I think we deserved to win it, I can't remember Lille having many chances," Toulouse coach Alain Casanova said. "It's perhaps the best we've played so far this season. We showed some excellent teamwork, put some great moves together and created a lot of chances."

Paris Saint-Germain climbed up to fifth spot after winning 2-0 away to Lens in a scrappy game settled by an odd own-goal from Lens defender Yohan Demont in the 49th and an excellent late finish from Brazilian midfielder Nene.

PSG right back Christophe Jallet sent in a cross that midfielder Claude Makelele totally missed, only for Nene to retrieve it and send a cross toward goal.

Lens defender Alaedine Yahia tried to kick the ball away, but in doing so hit it straight at Demont and the ball bounced back over the line, despite Yahia's desperate efforts to clear it.

PSG striker Guillaume Hoarau should have made it 2-0 midway through the second half but could not connect properly with Nene's cross. Nene then capped a fine performance when he showed great footwork to control Peguy Luyindula's pass and then clip it perfectly over goalkeeper Vedran Runje.

Also, Brest beat Valenciennes 1-0 at home thanks to a 77th-minute goal from striker Nolan Roux.

Valenciennes thought it had taken the lead early in the second half when Gregory Pujol scored from the penalty spot, but the kick was ordered to be retaken as several Valenciennes players had walked into the penalty area.

Having sent his first effort low into the bottom left corner, Pujol tried to fool goalkeeper Steeve Elana by going down the middle. Although Elana dived the wrong way, he managed to stick a leg up and kick the ball away.

Brest and Lille also have 11 points each but they both trail PSG and defending champion Marseille on goal difference.

Former seven-time champion Lyon is in 18th place and Lens is in 19th spot and both are deep in relegation trouble.

"This season we've either been bad in defense or bad in attack," Runje said. "I don't know what people expect of us. Last season we finished 11th and that was already a miracle."

Arles is last with no points after seven defeats and is already likely to be relegated.

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