Not a Nice loss for Toulouse

Dario Cvitanich's second-half goal earned Nice all three points at home to a Toulouse side on the slide.

Dario Cvitanich's second-half goal earned Nice all three points at home to a Toulouse side who continue to slide down the standings. Cvitanich's 60th-minute effort proved the difference between the two and earned Nice a deserved win, although Toulouse will feel slightly unfortunate after hitting the woodwork twice in the match, the second of which came three minutes from the end. The result lifts improving Nice into 11th place while Toulouse, who were in the top two not so long ago, are now down to ninth after slumping to a third successive league defeat and fourth on the trot in all competitions. Nice created the majority of what few first-half chances there were but the closest team to scoring before the break were Toulouse when Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro saw his 33rd-minute shot came crashing back off the post. At the other end, Jeremy Pied saw a decent effort go just over while Toulouse goalkeeper Olivier Blondel was called on to deny Eric Bautheac and Cvitanich, although neither of those incidents could be considered a clear chance for Nice. The hosts were back on the attack at the start of the second half and Blondel needed to be alert to push out a dangerous Bautheac cross, while Toulouse would have been thankful to see Mahamane Traore blaze the loose ball high into the Azureen sky. A good diving save from Blondel kept out Didier Digard's 25-yard drive in the 55th minute but Nice finally got the goal they had been threatening five minutes later through Cvitanich. Valentin Eysseric hoisted a free-kick from deep into the area which landed at the feet of Cvitanich and the Argentinian confidently finished with the outside of his right foot. Blondel came to Toulouse's rescue again in the 64th minute to save Bautheac's free-kick on the line as Nice came close to doubling their lead. Nice would have been upset to have seen all three points slip away but that was almost the case in the 87th minute when Daniel Braaten had a glorious chance to equalise, but his far-post header came back off the post and the home side could breathe again.