AUXERRE: Olympique Lyonnais scored three goals in the second half to win 3-1 at Auxerre in Ligue 1 on Sunday and claim fourth spot in the table, while St Etienne moved nearer to the relegation play-off spot after drawing 3-3 against Brest.

A Georges Mikautadze penalty broke the deadlock for Lyon in Auxerre on 54 minutes, before Rayan Cherki added a second eight minutes later with a cute curling finish.

Lassine Sinayoko pulled one back for the hosts 13 minutes from time to jangle Lyon nerves, until captain Alexandre Lacazette restored the two-goal buffer inthe 84th minute.

The win lifts Paulo Fonseca`s side into fourth on 51 points, one ahead of Lille and Strasbourg in the race for Europe`s premier club competition.

Lyon next turn their attentions to a trip to Old Trafford on Thursday with their Europa League quarter-final against Manchester United finely poised at 2-2 after the first leg.

Brest`s European ambitions took a hit after they drew against 17th-placed St Etienne.

Ludovic Ajorque`s early opener was cancelled out by Lucas Stassin on 16 minutes before Abdallah Sima restored Brest`s leadmidway through the first period.

Irvin Cardona got the hosts back level shortly after the half-hour, before Ajorque struck again to make it 3-2.

But Eric Roy`s side were unable to see out a valuable three points as Cardona levelled once again for Les Verts with 10 minutes remaining.

The result left St Etienne three points behind Le Havre in the relegation playoff position.

Le Havre were then thrashed 5-1 at home by Rennes later in the day while bottom-of-the-table Montpellier went down 2-0 to Angers, who climbed to 14th spot with the win.-AFP