St Etienne miss chance to go third

St Etienne had to come from behind twice to draw 2-2 at Rennes as they missed an opportunity to go above third-placed Marseille in Ligue 1.

Romain Danze opened the scoring in the 44th minute only for Yohan Mollo to equalise for the visitors before the break.

Julien Feret put Rennes ahead once more before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang earned St Etienne a point.

Rennes’ John Boye thought he had opened the scoring in the opening minutes, only to see his effort disallowed for a foul on St Etienne goalkeeper Stephane Ruffier.

Jonathan Pitroipa then looked to broken the deadlock for the home side after rounding Ruffier, only for Moustapha Bayal Sall to clear the ball off line.

The first half belied Rennes’ poor form- they had won once in their last six Ligue 1 games, while their opponents had claimed six wins from seven – and they had their reward when full-back Danze headed home from close range following a corner.

However they could not maintain the lead until half-time as Mollo finished impressively from the corner of the box in injury time.

Six minutes into the second period, Feret lobbed Ruffier after racing on to a Pitroipa through ball. Rennes then missed several chances to extend their lead before Aubameyang tapped home for his seventh goal from seven games on 65 minutes after Mollo found him.

Marseille, on 49 points, are one ahead of St Etienne. They play second-placed Lyon, who have 52, on Sunday, while Paris St-Germain – top with 54 – host second-bottom Nancy on Saturday.