Lorient 0 : 0 Nice - Hassen shines in draw

Posted Sunday, August 17, 2014 by PA

Lorient and Nice maintained their unbeaten start to their Ligue 1 campaigns after a goalless draw at the Stade du Moustoir.

Nice were grateful for goalkeeper Mouez Hassen, who made a string of vital saves throughout the match to keep the hosts at bay.

It ensured that both sides moved onto four points in the fledgling standings in the top flight following their respective victories on the opening weekend.

Lorient came into the clash with plenty of momentum after upsetting big-spending Monaco in the season-opener and almost made a dream start against Nice, who edged out Toulouse last week.

However, Vincent Aboubakar contrived to turn the ball the wrong side of the post from a tight angle after a corner had eventually fallen into his path.

Franck Honorat's snap-shot at the other end fizzed just wide of the top corner before Hassen proved his worth to the Nice team.

First the 19-year-old got down well after Yann Jouffre had instinctively fired at goal on the turn before tipping over Bryan Pele's powerful effort, with Aboubakar once again failing to find the target with a header from the resulting corner.

Lorient's profligacy nearly came back to haunt them as Nice missed the best chance of the half, with Alexys Bosetti meeting a cross but, despite his control and shot beating Benjamin Lecomte, the ball was inches wide of the upright.

Jouffre once more tested Hassen shortly after the interval but the goalkeeper was equal to the challenge before he kept the scores level again with a tremendous flick over from Mathieu Coutadeur's close-range volley.

And he produced another superb point-blank save to deny Jouffre.