Christian Kinkela scored a last-minute winner as Ajaccio's superb mid-season form continued on Sunday afternoon with a 2-1 victory at Valenciennes to lift them out of the relegation zone.
Marooned at the bottom of the table following their summer promotion, an immediate return to Ligue 2 looked a certainty for Olivier Pantaloni's men ahead of the winter break.
But this fourth straight win - and their fifth game without defeat - has seen them reach 21 points and climb to 15th in the table, putting them ahead of their opponents on Sunday.
Eduardo scored their first goal after six minutes but, when Vincent Aboubakar levelled and Ajaccio had Paul Lasne sent off, a defeat looked a stark possibility.
But Kinkela had other ideas, scoring in injury time to give his side a vital three points.
They lost to Bourg-Peronnas in the cup last time out, but there was clearly no hangover as they took the lead early on.
They did have to survive Renaud Cohade going close but, after that, Lasne went down the right and his cross was played into Eduardo's path and he did the rest, getting between two defenders and tucking home despite losing his footing.
It took the home side some time to respond, with Cohade's cross eventually finding Gregory Pujol whose shot was beaten away by Guillermo Ochoa.
Aboubakar then played in Gaetan Bong, who saw his effort dealt with by Ochoa.
Valenciennes could have counted themselves unfortunate to be behind at the break, but they did not have to wait too long to get on terms after it.
Forty-eight minutes had gone when Aboubakar collected possession and ran at the Ajaccio defence before sending an effort into the top corner from the edge of the box, finally finding a way past Ochoa.
Cohade took the goal as a signal to continue his battering of the away defence and another of his runs ended with him finding Gael Danic, who should have done better from close range.
But Ajaccio were not without chances of their own as Damien Tiberi struck the bar from way out, with Nicolas Penneteau doing well to block Mehdi Mostefa on the follow-up.
Danic responded by rattling the Ajaccio post with a curling effort, before his trickery set up Cohade whose effort scraped wide.
Lasne then saw red with 17 minutes left after being adjudged to have dived in the area, and with his departure Ajaccio's chances seemed to have gone.
But they did not see it that way and, with the clock almost stopped, Eduardo found Kinkela and he slipped past his marker before finishing.
