Julien Feret struck the only goal of the game as Caen beat Champions League-chasing Saint-Etienne 1-0 at Stade Malherbe Caen for their third successive Ligue 1 victory.

Feret, who also found the net in recent wins over Rennes and Reim, kept up his rich vein of goalscoring form on 41 minutes to down the visitors, who stay seven points adrift of the top three.

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The hosts dominated the opening stages and came close to opening the scoring twice in the space of five minutes.

First, Herve Bazile latched onto Sloan Privat's cross but screwed wide of the post, before the latter fired narrowly over the bar from a good position.

Christophe Galtier's side responded well to those early scares and gradually established a foothold in proceedings, with Ricky van Wolfswinkel and Romain Hamouma both going close.

Saint-Etienne began to dominate and missed a host of good chances before Caen hit them with a sucker-punch through Feret, who produced a fine finish inside the box.

That seemed to take the wind out of the visitors' sails and they struggled to fashion the chances that they did in the first half as Caen dominated the second period.

Thomas Lemar could have wrapped up the victory, spurning two glorious chances, while Emiliano Sala missed a late open goal as the hosts held on.