PARIS (AP) - Bordeaux missed the chance to move provisionally up to fifth place in the French league after losing 1-0 away to Bastia on Saturday.
Midfielder Adama Ba scored the winning goal in the 42nd minute of a hard-fought match as Bastia moved up to 12th, one place ahead of Nice, which beat Ajaccio 2-0 thanks to goals in each half from Belgian midfielder Christian Bruls and Argentine striker Dario Cvitanich’s eighth of the season.
Following a bright spell of form, eighth-place Bordeaux has lost three straight games in all competitions and lost 3-1 at home to Paris Saint-Germain in the League Cup quarterfinals this week.
Bordeaux coach Francis Gillot was angry with his players.
“We’re asking ourselves how we could have lost this match. We didn’t take our chances and the first one they get they score an offside goal, in my opinion,” Gillot said. “Even a draw would have disappointed us, so as for a defeat …”
Gillot was without forwards Jussie of Brazil and Cheick Diabate of Mali and recently signed Guillaume Hoarau to boost his options up front.
“Our two best strikers are injured and it’s tough,” Gillot said. “We’ve undone all the hard work we did in December. Everything worries me at the moment. When we play like that we can’t look forward. As long as we don’t have a goal-scorer there’s no point in talking.”
Elsewhere, Lorient climbed up to ninth place after beating Guingamp 2-0 at home.
Marseille’s home match against Valenciennes was postponed because of torrential rain and the French league has yet to decide when it will be played.
Lorient took control early on with two goals inside the first 12 minutes from midfielder Yoann Jouffre and forward Kevin Monnet-Paquet.
In other games, it was Rennes 0, Evian 0 and Sochaux 0, Montpellier 2.
Rennes challenged for a European place last season but is languishing in 15th place and is six points above the relegation zone.
“Even though we had the two best chances in the first half, we were average,” Rennes coach Philippe Montanier said. “We’re not getting anywhere - we’re fighting to stay up.”
Draw specialists Montpellier went ahead through winger Anthony Mounier in the 20th, and things got worse for strugglers Sochaux when Nathan Sinkaka was sent off in the 34th minute after picking up his second yellow card. Defender Siaka Tiene sealed the win in the 74th as former champion Montpellier climbed up to 16th under new coach Rolland Courbis.
PSG, which is five points clear of second-place Monaco, hosts Nantes on Sunday in a dress rehearsal of their League Cup semifinal next month. Monaco is away to Toulouse and Lyon goes to Reims in the other games.
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