Guingamp 0 : 1 Nantes - Guingamp woe goes on

Guingamp's woes at the Stade Municipal de Roudourou continued as they suffered a fourth defeat in five with a 1-0 loss to Nantes.

Georges-Kevin Nkoudou solitary first-half strike - his first of the season - ensured Les Canaris became the fourth team this season to leave Brittany with all three points and condemned the forlorn hosts to another week at the bottom of Ligue 1.

In contrast, a first league win of the season on the road for Michel Der Zakarian ensured his side moved joint-third with Lille.

The visitors showed early intent and, when Serge Gakpe's centre from the right found Yacine Bammou, his shot seemed destined to open the scoring on 16 minutes only for the ball to come back off the upright.

The hosts showed a rare glimpse of danger moments later when Claudio Beauvue's effort from the left of the area beat Remy Riou only for Sylvain Marveaux to hack clear.

Jordan Veretout went close on the half-hour mark but his volley failed to find the target before the visitors made the crucial breakthrough in some style.

The impressive Nkoudou combined well with Veretout before dispatching a stunning strike beyond Jonas Lossl which nestled in the top corner leaving the Danish stopper with little chance.

It was no less than Nantes deserved but they were almost made to pay for switching off just after the break but former Newcastle man Sylain Marveaux's effort ended up agonisingly wide of the post.

That seemed to spur on the uninspiring hosts and Remy Riou was almost caught out in the Nantes goal inside the final 10 minutes when he misjudged Beauvue's cross but the fortunate Canaries keeper saw the ball come back off the woodwork.

Nantes almost wrapped up the points with minutes to spare on the counter but Nkoudou was unfortunate to see another superb effort come back off the crossbar.