It was mediocre to begin with, but Lorient and Le Mans really fired the attention in the final half hour, with one goal enough to differentiate the sides.
Although Thorstein Helstad squandered an early chance for the visiting side, hitting relatively weakly at Fabien Audard in the home net, it would be Lorient who enjoyed the better of the first half. Still, they were relatively inactive in front of goal, with an effort from Kevin Gameiro that was blocked the best they could muster.
Le Mans looked somewhat more threatening, Anthony Le Tallec sending a drive effort narrowly wide, while a terrific effort from Gergory Cerdan zipped narrowly over.
After a rather dull start to the second period, things picked up on the hour mark, starting with a Morgan Amalfitano lob that dropped over. Two minutes later Lorient had the lead courtesy of a glorious Marama Vahirua free kick, which was out of keeping with much of what had preceded it.
Le Mans responded with a Mathieu Coutadeur free kick that evaded everyone but happily for the hosts landed on their post, while a Vahirua shot screamed past at the other end.
Chances were readily appearing, with another thumping Cerdan shot going just over the top. Next Audard had to be alive to block from Thomas Dossevi, while Gameiro nearly extended Lorient’s lead at the opposite end of the field with a cannonball shot.
But this did not need to fly in, because Lorient had done enough to cling onto three valuable points.
