St Etienne put their recent indifferent league form behind them by sealing their place in the Coupe de France quarterfinals with a 2-1 victory over Red Star on Tuesday night.
Les Verts are winless in their last four Ligue 1 games but they made a fine start to the Stade Bauer encounter when on-loan striker Ricky van Wolfswinkel gave them an 18th-minute lead.
Things went from bad to worse for Red Star when they lost defender Julien Ielsch to a 25th-minute red card.
But the third division side were level three minutes later when Hamer Bouazza found the back of the net and were so until 10 minutes from time when ex-ASSE defender Pierrick Cros put through his own net to send his former club through.
Ligue 2 Auxerre needed penalties to overcome third division side Le Poire-sur-Vie at the Stade de l'Idonniere.
AJA were moments away from booking their quarterfinal place courtesy of Livio Nabab's early second-half strike, but Le Poire-sur-Vie forced extra time when Loic Dufau netted a penalty in stoppage time.
Neither side could find a winner in extra time and after Le Poire-sur-Vie midfielder Arnaud Souquet missed his penalty, Karim Djellabi scored his to send Auxerre through, 6-5, to the last eight for the first time in five years.
Concarneau won 4-1 on penalties to seal their progression against fellow fourth-division side Iris Club de Croix after neither side could find a goal in regulation or extra time.
Third division side Boulogne eased into the last eight as goals from strikers Henry Gbizie and Georges Gope-Fenepej secured a 2-0 win at home to fourth-division Quevilly, who had forward Joris Colinet sent off late on.