Lens came back from two goals down to find a late winner to beat Toulouse 3-2 on Friday and move to within one point of Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain, who have two games in hand.
Lens, whose only French title came in 1998, were slow out of the blocks at their Stade Bollaert-Delelis and found themselves 2-0 down after 13 minutes.
Goalkeeper Robin Risser fumbled a long-range strike from Cristian Casseres in the sixth minute before being beaten by Seny Koumbassa.
The game turned four minutes later when Toulouse’s Yann Gboho was shown a straight red card for a studs-up challenge on Adrien Thomasson that will keep him out of the French Cup semifinal when the two sides meet again in Toulouse on Tuesday.
From then on, Lens dominated possession and peppered the Toulouse goal without joy until defender Saud Abdulhamid finally found the target after 61 minutes.
Six minutes later, Thomasson levelled with Ismaelo Ganiou, snatching the winner two minutes into added time at the end of the game.
The win cements Lens in the top two: they are now nine points ahead of third-placed Lille. Leaders PSG host Lyon on Sunday.