Sylvain Ripoll has admitted that his Lorient side need to produce a response as soon as possible after suffering a 1-0 defeat to Rennes on Friday evening.

Despite matching their rivals for much of the game, Pedro Henrique's late strike condemned Lorient to defeat, and Ripoll conceded that the disappointment was tough to take for his players.

"When you concede a goal in the 89th minute after a good performance, with a lot of good intentions, a few mistakes, and a real desire to get yourself out of trouble and turn your luck, of course it's difficult," Ripoll told reporters. "Right now, things are difficult.

"Our path is full of hurdles. We mustn't give up and must keep on ploughing forward, even if we have deserved to be rewarded in recent weeks and it still hasn't happened. A draw would have been a fair result on the balance of play."

Lorient return to action against Lens next Saturday.