Ligue 1: Rennes beat Lorient 3-0 in clash between two struggling sides

Rennes took a significant step closer to Ligue 1 survival with a 3-0 win at Lorient, whose own hopes of avoiding the drop received another hit.

Edson Mexer gave Rennes a 17th-minute lead and then goals either side of half-time from Sylvain Armand and Abdoulaye Doucoure ensured Philippe Montanier's men would be returning home with the points.

The victory leaves Rennes 10 points clear of third-bottom Toulouse - who lost to Metz on Saturday - and it would take a dramatic loss of form for them to go down now.

It is not such a positive picture for Lorient, however. They have now lost four of their last five matches and remain just two points above Toulouse.

The hosts actually gave as good as they got during the game, but it was Rennes who were more clinical in front of goal.

Both goalkeepers were called into action early on, Rennes' custodian Benoit Costil forced into a difficult low save to keep out Walid Mesloub's long-range piledriver, before Benjamin Lecomte did well to deny Paul-Georges Ntep moments later.

Lecomte was unable to intervene as Lorient took the lead though, Ntep's corner from the right being met by a pinpoint header from Mexer.

Lorient looked to respond and Costil was called on to save from Lamine Kone and Jordan Ayew before Rennes hit their opponents with a sucker-punch in the 43rd minute to make it 2-0.

It stemmed from another Ntep corner, with this time Armand escaping the attentions of the home defence to volley in a low shot.

That was the perfect way to end the half for Rennes, and it got even better as they made it 3-0 five minutes into the second half.

Ntep was again involved, although it was his dribbling ability and not dead-ball prowess that came to the fore on this occasion as he skipped past several defenders before setting up Doucoure to slot home right-footed.

With nothing to lose Lorient charged forward in search of a lifeline and they created four decent opportunities in the closing stages.

However, Mesloub fired just over before Costil produced three more fine saves to keep out efforts from Benjamin Jeannot and replacement Gianni Bruno (twice) as Rennes held on for the points.