Soccer-Gignac puts Marseille back into second in Ligue 1

Reuters

PARIS, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Andre-Pierre Gignac's second-half penalty was enough for Olympique de Marseille to beat visiting Evian Thonon Gaillard 1-0 and reclaim second spot in Ligue 1 on Saturday. France forward Gignac netted from the spot four minutes into the second half of a rather dull encounter at the Stade Velodrome to put OM on 47 points from 23 games, one adrift of Olympique Lyonnais who travel to fifth-placed Monaco on Sunday. Paris St Germain, who beat Stade Rennais 1-0 at home on Friday, are third on goal difference. Both sides were lacklustre early on and Marseille, although dominating possession, failed to really threaten the visitors' defence. Six minutes from the interval, Dimitri Payet's volley shaved Benjamin Leroy's bar as OM increased the pressure. Payet was pushed down in the box by Cedric Barbosa and Gignac converted the resulting penalty to put the home side ahead on 49 minutes. Alaixys Romao wasted another chance for Marcelo Bielsa's side when he skied a close-range effort over the bar in the 77th minute. (Reporting by Julien Pretot, editing by Pritha Sarkar)