PARIS (AFP) - Paris St Germain's spiral of misery continued Saturday as they fell to their fifth defeat of the season at their Parc des Princes stadium, a 1-0 loss to Caen.

Nicolas Florentin's 74th-minute strike was the only goal of the night as Paul Le Guen's side remain stuck in the relegation zone with just 16 points from 16 games.

Le Guen's hopes that December could provide some relief after a black November were short lived as sloppy play saw them bungle their way through a game against a team with one of the worst away records in the league.

And a moment of inattention by Brazilian defender Ceara 15 minutes from time allowed midfielder Florentin a golden opportunity which he did not miss.

Caen coach Franck Dumas admitted that they had been keen to take advantage of their rivals problems at home, and the obvious hostility of the crowd.

"The players thought about it at half-time (PSG's problems), the longer it goes on the more Paris will be in difficulty," he said.

"We thought there might be problems in defence but not an individual error like that. It was a series of circumstances. When you're down you always have the impression that everything is against you."

Le Guen's partnership of veteran Pedro Pauleta and 18-year-old David Ngog failed to fire and despite moments when it looked as if PSG might spark into life, a combination of errors by their strikers and the inexperience of Ngog killed off all hope.

After their 2-1 loss at Nice, the coming week looks like being agitated for Le Guen and his side particularly as their great rivals Marseille are now four games without defeat after drawing 1-1 at Lille.

Mamadou Niang grabbed the equaliser for the southern giants four minutes after Patrick Kluivert had given the hosts the lead on 28 minutes. Fifth-from-bottom Marseille are two points ahead of PSG.

Earlier Nancy missed a chance to pull level with leaders Lyon, falling to just their second defeat of the season, a 2-1 loss, at Le Mans.

Nancy, sitting second with 31 points from 15 games, remain three points behind six-time champions Lyon, who with a match in hand, could move further ahead when they host midtable Strasbourg on Sunday.

The visitors had taken the lead after nine minutes following a penalty converted by midfielder Benjamin Gavanon after Le Mans defender Marko Basa handled when clearing a centre from Marc-Antoine Fortune.

But the hosts, still smarting from their 3-0 loss to struggling Auxerre last week, pulled level after 59 minutes with a Hassan Yebda header and superb finishing from Ivorian midfielder Gervinho (80) secured all three points.

Le Mans move provisionally into third with 26 points from 16 games as Nancy fell back to earth following an unbeaten seven-match run going back to September 15.

Elsewhere St Etienne drew 1-1 at Lorient, while in the Riveria derby Monaco had to settle for a point after Jan Koller's 86th-minute opening goal was wiped out by a lasp-gasp Lilian Laslandes equaliser for Nice.

Lens, unbeaten for five five games now, continued their rapid rise, moving to 12th position after a 2-0 win at second-from-bottom Sochaux. Tailenders Metz lost 1-0 at home to resurgent Auxerre.