Ligue 1: Ola Toivonen scores winner as Rennes beat Guingamp 1-0

Ola Toivonen's strike was enough to give Rennes a clean sweep of the Breton derbies this season as they beat Guingamp 1-0 at the Stade de la Route de Lorient on Sunday.

With Rennes comfortably clear of the drop zone there was little hanging on the game for them other than local pride, but Guingamp were still in need of points to rubber-stamp their Ligue 1 status for next season.

The derby was slow to spring into life, but it was the hosts who made most of the running and they deservedly took the bragging rights with Toivonen profiting from great work from Kamil Grosicki to smash home with 10 minutes remaining.

Having already done the double over Lorient and already beaten EAG earlier in the season it completed their derby supremacy and leaves Guingamp just four points clear of the drop zone with six games remaining.

There was little to shout about early on and the closest either side came to creating a chance on goal was when Guingamp's Christophe Mandanne saw his effort from inside the area deflected wide by Rennes defender Mexer.

It took the hosts 15 minutes to finally fashion a shooting opportunity but, following some neat build-up play by Romain Danze and Pedro Henrique, Abdoulaye Doucoure's effort at goal was blocked well by Jeremy Pied.

Rennes' Benoit Costil was the first goalkeeper to be tested on 35 minutes and he stood up well, turning Lionel Mathis' 16-yard volley away for a corner.

However, it was the hosts who went closest to breaking the deadlock before the interval when Paul-Georges Ntep saw his close-range effort kept out by a decent Jonas Lossl save after Reynauld Lemaitre headed Cheikh M'Bengue's delivery into his path.

The match remained goalless at the break and that mould did not look like being broken after the restart.

Toivonen did manage to break free of the Guingamp defence but he was unable to capitalise on a one-on-one situation which was eventually brought to an end by the linesman's flag.

Then, with 17 minutes remaining, Guingamp were reduced to 10 men when Sambou Yatabare left his foot in on M'Bengue and referee Antony Gautier showed no hesitance in sending the midfielder off.

Moments later, EAG's afternoon went from bad to worse when Grosicki's excellent work on the right ended with an equally adept delivery which Toivonen confidently dispatched beyond Lossl.

Rennes could easily have added a second in stoppage time when another useful Grosicki delivery found its way to substitute Habib Habibou but his effort was superbly kept out by Lossl.