AJ Auxerre 2 - 1 Lorient

Auxerre 2-1 Lorient

Updated: December 17, 2006, 2:52 PM ET

AUXERRE, December 17 (Ligue 1) - Auxerre put their midweek UEFA Cup exit behind them as they came from behind to claim the spoils against Lorient on Sunday.

Kanga Akale and Ireneusz Jelen scored for the hosts in response to Andre-Pierre Gignac's opener at the Stade de l'Abbe-Deschamps as the Burgundy club moved up to 13th, just one point behind their opponents.

Auxerre needed only to avoid defeat on Thursday to progress through to the Round of 32, but were beaten 1-0 at home by Livorno to crash out of the competition.

But coach Jean Fernandez would have been pleased after witnessing an encouraging performance against Lorient.

His team were a goal down in the 13th minute after a good interchange of passing in midfield saw Gignac pick up the ball 25 yards out and dribble past two defenders before unleashing a perfectly-placed shot from inside the penalty area, giving Fabien Cool no chance.

However, the lead didn't last long and in the 21st minute, Akale dispossessed Rafik Saifi inside his own penalty area and gave Remy Riou no chance as he punished the error.

Luigi Pieroni then struck the crossbar with his cracking strike from 18 yards, before Akale's shot beat Riou but was cleared off the line by Michael Ciani as the teams went in level at half-time.

Eight minutes after the break, the hosts were in front when a loose ball in the centre circle was neatly flicked by Stephane Grichting to Jelen, who raced down the centre and drew goalkeeper Riou towards him as he fired into the bottom right-hand corner from outside the penalty area.

On the hour mark, the referee awarded a free-kick inside the area but Gignac's cut-back was wasted as he shot into the crowd in what proved a final opportunity for the visitors.

Akale and Benoit Pedretti both wasted good chances to extend the margin of victory for Auxerre, but in the end the two goals were sufficient to claim all the points.