Racing Club de Lens 0-1 Olympique de Marseille

Olympique de Marseille remain firmly in the Ligue 1 title hunt thanks to a somewhat scrappy 1-0 success over relegation threatened Racing Club de Lens, who will feel they deserved better than to suffer a defeat at the hands of the French champions.

After enduring almost 70 minutes of frustration, the visitors took the lead somewhat against the run of play. At the edge of the penalty box, Benoit Cheyrou cleverly maneuvered himself just enough room to squeeze a shot in, and the midfielder’s effort off his weaker right foot caught home goalkeeper Vedran Runje by surprise, curling into the bottom corner of his net.

Previously, Lens had looked the better side, with Eduardo hitting the bar with a first half header.

Didier Deschamps’ side made the more impressive start to the game, but Vedran Runje’s goal was never particularly threatened by OM, despite their early dominance. Indeed, the opening half hour of the encounter would be a rather stale affair, lacking in true goalmouth incident.

Somewhat surprisingly, it was Lens who had the first meaningful effort on goal, though Eduardo’s header at the far post came off the face of the bar. Had the ball dropped into the net from its looping trajectory, the goal would have stood, despite protests from the visitors that Steve Mandanda had been fouled.

The France international would certainly come to rescue of his side in the last minute of the first half, flying across his goal brilliantly to push away an Issam Jemaa header that seemed destined for the top left hand corner.

Between these efforts, Marseille had two good openings of their own. The best of these fell to Loic Remy, who took advantage of some static defending to break through on goal, though Runje was quick from his goal to make a key block.

There could have been little doubt that it was Lens who finished the first half the stronger of the two teams, and they maintained their momentum into the second period. Adil Hermach had a fierce drive from 18 yards touched over the top by Mandanda, who looked on helplessly 10 minutes later as Sebastien Roudet failed to find the target when handily placed.

By the time Cheyrou opened the scoring, Marseille had certainly earned themselves a handhold in the game, though they scantly deserved the goal that allowed them to finish the match comfortably in largely confident style.

Seven minutes from time, there was a scare for the guests when Jemma challenged Mandanda for a high ball, forcing an effort over the line only for it to be promptly denied because of a foul.

In stoppage time, OM hearts were in mouths again when Alassane Toure crashed to earth in the box, though again the referee made a good call, adjudging the defender to have slipped.

Anything other than a win at the Stade Bollaert would have been a critical blow to OM’s title hopes, though victory, however unconvincing, keeps them only four points from Ligue 1 leaders Lille, offering the only real competition to les Dogues following Olympique Lyonnais’ draw with Nice earlier on Sunday.

At the other end of the spectrum, Lens are edging towards the drop, and they will rue an evening on which they lacked luck more than skill or desire.