PARIS, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Guingamp harvested a necessary 1-0 home victory over Dijon in an attempt to stay in Ligue 1, while Saint-Etienne thrashed another struggling side Caen 5-0 on Saturday.
Guingamp, who had been restrained to rock bottom for quite a while, made the most of Ludovic Blas' late penalty in the six-pointer to move up to third from bottom at the table.
Visiting outfit Dijon heated up quicker into the duel, as Oussama Haddadi gave Guingamp goalkeeper Marc-Aurele Caillard a test with a long-range shot in as early as the sixth minute.
The stalemate lingered on until the 86th minute, when Blas stepped up to convert a penalty won by Marcus Thuram.
Julio Tavares got a golden chance to level the score for Dijon two minutes later, while sweeping the ball over the crossbar.
Guingamp have found themselves at 18th, a playoff spot to remain in top-flight league after this campaign, at the expense of their opponents.
That is achieved also due to Caen's lopsided loss to Saint-Etienne.
Romain Hamouma broke the deadlock five minutes into the match. Robert Beric and Arnaud Nordin put them further ahead just after the half hour mark.
Saint-Etienne showed no sign of slowing down in attack after the restart. Lamine Ghezali pocketed his maiden league goal with four minutes remaining, and fellow substitute Valentin Vada registered the team's fifth goal of the night.
Elsewhere, Angers were held to a goalless draw by Amiens. Nimes and Strasbourg shared points following a 2-2 tie.
