At the Velodrome Cisse kicked a ball in anger for the first time in six months when coming on as a second half substitute in Marseille's 2-1 win over Monaco.

Cisse, on-loan from Liverpool, was returning after the horrific leg fracture suffered in a France warm-up on the eve of the World Cup in June.

Marseille badly need Cisse back firing on all cylinders in a bid to reignite their flagging season.

And after being introduced on the hour mark he was at the heart of Marseille's 77th minute winner when teaming up well with Mamadou Niang who completed the move by shooting the ball past Flavio Roma.

Mikael Pagis had put Marseille into a 37th minute lead after having had a goal disallowed for offside, with Italian Marco Di Vaio drawing Monaco back level 20 minutes later.

Cisse said afterwards: "I'm really happy to have made my debut at the Velodrome a winning one. That's the most important thing."

Reflecting on his lengthy absence he added: "It went quickly. I was patient, we did good work with the medical staff."

These three points against their south coast neighbours will be warmly received and they pushed Marseille up three places to fifth. Earlier Lens were deserved 1-0 winners over Toulouse.

Second half substitute Issam Jemaa broke the deadlock in injury time off a cross from Abdoulrazak Boukari.

That was just reward for the Tunisian striker as seconds earlier he'd hit the woodwork twice.

Lens were stretching their unbeaten run to nine games to move onto 32 points, 11 adrift of Lyon who host Paris Saint Germain on Sunday.

"Overall we deserved the win," reflected Lens coach Francis Gillot. He added: "I was beginning to get frustrated but we were rewarded for all the energy we showed.

"It's a result that gives me a lot of pleasure as we arrived here with high ambitions. I played four strikers towards the end and the high risk strategy paid off." Third-placed Sochaux were held to a goalless draw by Valenciennes.

Elsewhere on Saturday Auxerre and Troyes shared the spoils in a six goal thriller; bottom club Sedan fell 2-0 at mid-table Lorient; and there were no goals at the fixtures between Nantes and Le Mans and Nice and Nancy.

All eight of Saturday's games kicked off 10 minutes late as French referees staged a protest over their employment status.