French Ligue 1: Toulouse leave it late

Martin Braithwaite netted a late winner as Toulouse returned to winning ways with a narrow 2-1 victory over Nantes at Stade de la Beaujoire.

Guinea left-back Issiaga Sylla handed the visitors the lead midway through the first half but a 64th-minute penalty from Jordan Veretout levelled matters before Braithwaite struck five minutes from time to claim all three points.

Alain Casanova's side had lost their previous two matches but bounced back here and moved up two places in the Ligue 1 table as a result, while Nantes remain seventh, four points better off.

The away side had the first real chance of note as Etienne Didot set up Uros Spajic with his free-kick from 40 yards out on the right, but the Serbian sent his header just over the bar.

Michel Der Zakarian's men hit back with two chances in quick succession but - although Olivier Veigneau's free-kick found Papy Djilobodji - Toulouse goalkeeper Ali Ahamada went down for a decent save to keep out his powerful header.

And moments later Veretout found Georges-Kevin N'Koudou on the edge of the 18-yard box but his curled effort towards the Toulouse goal was blocked.

Against the run of play, it was the visitors that took the lead as Sylla collected Wissam Ben Yedder's cross at the near post and won an aerial battle to head the ball home and put his side in front.

After an uneventful start to the second half, the hosts could have equalised on the hour mark but Ahamada was again on hand to hold them out, this time forcing Veretout's long-range effort to safety with difficulty.

But their leveller arrived not long after following a handball in the area by Spajic. Veretout chose left with the resulting spot-kick and Ahamada could not keep the ball from crossing the line.

Ahamada kept the scores level 10 minutes from time as he saved Djilobodji's effort on target from 25 yards out.

But Toulouse stole the winner as the match wound down with a great team goal. Spajic started it off as his throw-in found Francois Moubandje on the left, who crossed the ball in for Braithwaite and the Dane beat Veigneau with a superb right-footed volley to clinch all three points.