Monaco boost title bid

Monaco kept their own house in order in the Ligue 1 title race as they won 2-0 at Toulouse.

Monaco kept their own house in order in the Ligue 1 title race as they won 2-0 at Toulouse. Claudio Ranieri's side are at the mercy of a Paris St Germain capitulation with regard to their hopes, but maintained some pressure on the capital club with this win. They are comfortable in second and knew they could not go top, but Layin Kurzawa and Lucas Ocampos made sure of the points to at least keep PSG on their toes. It was not all Monaco, though, as following a quiet opening 20 minutes, La Tefece threatened first after hitting Ranieri's men on the counter but goalkeeper Daniel Subasic came to his team's rescue not once but twice, saving from Jean-Daniel Akpo Akpro and Yissam Ben Yedder. The visitors continued to struggle in front of goal but, with 10 minutes left to play until the interval, they took the lead with what was their first effort on target. Toulouse failed to clear their lines properly and the ball fell to Geoffrey Kondogbia whose delivery from the left was fired beyond Ali Ahamada by Kurzawa from 12 yards. Issiaga Sylla nearly provided the hosts with an almost instant response but, after Ben Yedder and Daniel Braithwaite did well to fashion an opening, the Guinean saw his effort shave the left post. Apparently invigorated by the break, Monaco came out a much-improved team and Radamel Falcao almost got his name on the scoresheet but Steeve Yago cleared off his own line after the Colombian's effort was deflected beyond Ahamada. The visitors continued to dominate and Ahamada was called into action to push away a Valere Germain effort away from the edge of the area before Falcao rounded the Toulouse custodian minutes later only to be denied by another goalline clearance, this time from Abel Aguilar. Despite their second-half dominance, the principality side had to wait until two minutes from the end to wrap up all three points when Ocampos struck in fine style. James Rodriguez did all the hard work on the right before chipping the ball towards the back post where the young Argentinian acrobatically fired beyond Ahamada for his fourth of the season.