Rennes have moved up to fourth in Ligue 1 with a 2-0 victory over Bastia away from home.

Romain Alessandrini's goal in the first half and Mevlut Erding's strike just after the hour mark saw the visitors take all three points at Stade Jean Lavill.

Midfielder Alessandrini could have scored as early as the 10th minute when he took a shot from a difficult angle on the left, but failed to keep it on target.

Erding had a chance of his own moments later and tested Bastia goalkeeper Mickael Landreau again soon after.

Rennes continued to dominate proceedings and made the breakthrough in the 34th minute when Alessandrini turned in Julien Feret's cross from the left side of the visitors' penalty box.

It became 2-0 to Frederic Antonetti's side on 61 minutes as Erding fired in from close range after being set up by Jean Makoun with a cross.

Anthony Modeste could have halved the deficit for Bastia with three minutes of normal time remaining when he stepped up to take a penalty conceded by Yann M'Vila with a handball offence.

However, Modeste failed to covert it and allowed Rennes to run out 2-0 winners.