Ligue 1 leaders Lyon were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw at home to relegation candidates Nancy on Wednesday, as their lead at the top was trimmed to three points.
Nancy took a surprise second-half lead through Jordan Loties and appeared on course for their first win since the opening day of the season before Michel Bastos spared Lyon's blushes seven minutes from time to secure Remi Garde's side a point.
The stalemate moved Lyon onto 35 points, three ahead of Paris-Saint Germain following the capital club's 4-0 rout of Valenciennes a day earlier, a result inspired by a Zlatan Ibrahimovic hat-trick, while a fifth straight draw for Nancy saw them climb above Troyes into 19th.
Rooted to the foot of the table and without a win in 15 outings entering the clash at Stade Gerland, Nancy displayed plenty of attacking intent during the first-half, forcing Lyon goalkeeper Remy Vercoutre to save twice from Djamel Bakar and produce an instinctive stop to claw away a Loties header.
Lyon though should have taken the lead on 35 minutes as Bafetimbi Gomis danced past Sebastien Puygrenier only to see his effort well blocked after he passed up an opportunity to lay the ball of to a better-positioned Alexandre Lacazette.
Bastos then drew Nancy keeper Damien Gregorini into a smart low save with his legs, while Lisandro Lopez was incensed not to be awarded a second-half penalty when his shot was deflected behind via the arm of Brazilian right-back Helder.
But the visitors continued to belie their league position as Loties had a fizzing strike palmed away by Vercoutre before Jean Fernandez's charges took a shock lead through the French defender on 74 minutes.
Loties was the beneficiary of Vercoutre's inexplicable decision to launch himself feet first at Salif Sane's tame header, as the custodian's attempted clearance ricocheted off the Nancy player and trickled over the line.
The visitors' advantage lasted a mere nine minutes, however, as Bastos hauled Lyon level on 83 minutes when his long-range shot wrong-footed Gregorini after taking a wicked deflection off Puygrenier.
Elsewhere, Lorient claimed a fourth win in five matches as goals from Alain Traore and Lamine Kone were on target in a 2-0 win over Sochaux.
Evian climbed out of the relegation zone after beating fellow strugglers Troyes 2-0 thanks to a brace from Cedric Barbosa.
Montpellier came from behind to win 2-1 at Brest as an own-goal from Johan Martial and 57th-minute strike from John Utaka overturned Eden Ben Basat's opener for the home side.
Meanwhile Adrian Mutu was on target, as Mickael Tacalfred also put through his own net, to hand Ajaccio a 2-0 win against Reims.
Bastia host third-placed Marseille behind closed doors at Stade Armand Cesari in Wednesday's late fixture.
Source: AFP
