Stade Rennais FC 1 : 0 Lorient - Rennes maintain momentum

Pedro Henrique's late strike earned Rennes a 1-0 win over Lorient in the Breton derby and nudged them up to seventh ahead of the weekend's Ligue 1 fixtures.

Henrique found the net in the 89th minute to continue Rennes' recent revival and pile the misery on Lorient, who remain rooted in the bottom three.

It was just about deserved on the balance of play, but that was of little help to the frayed nerves of supporters who were made to wait until the death.

Rennes had attacked from the off but Kamil Grosicki's early effort flew over, while Benjamin Lecomte made a fine save to deny Abdoulaye Doucoure in the 25th minute.

Lorient's sole chance of the first half fell to Lamine Kone but his header was blocked by Benoit Costil.

Jordan Ayew then had to clear the ball off the line for Lorient a minute before the break, denying Paul-Georges Ntep.

Lorient's best chance of the night came just after the hour mark, with Raphael Guerreiro denied by the strong hand of Costil who was at full stretch.

Opposite number Lecomte then managed to hoof clear amid a goalmouth scramble in front of the Lorient net before he kept out Ntep's curling free-kick.

Costil then denied Yann Jouffre and it seemed as though it would end in a stalemate.

But Rennes had other ideas as Ntep sparked a swift counter-attacking, beating Yoann Wachter and then flicking the ball for the unmarked Henrique to finish at the far post.