Lorient 1 - 1 Lyonnais - Lyon held by Lorient

Posted Monday, February 16, 2015 by PA

Lyon failed to take advantage of slip-ups by their Ligue 1 title rivals as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Lorient.

Neither Marseille nor Paris St Germain won their matches over the weekend, giving Hubert Fournier's side the chance to move four points clear at the top of the table.

But they could only extend the gap to two, and it would have been worse had Clinton N'Jie not cancelled out Jordan Ayew's goal with 12 minutes to go.

Lorient might have opened the scoring inside three minutes as Benjamin Jeannot burst into the area and went past goalkeeper Anthony Lopes but Samuel Umtiti blocked the shot on the line.

Rafidine Abdullah then sent a shot over the Lyon bar before the game settled down.

The visitors' first chance came on the half-hour mark, Nabil Fekir testing Benjamin Lecomte with a powerful shot before Jeannot glanced a header past the post just before the break.

Lorient boss Sylvain Ripoll threw on Ayew at the interval to add further impetus to the hosts' attack and that move paid off almost immediately when Jeannot picked out the unmarked Ghana international, who nodded beyond Lopes.

Lyon responded and Umtiti forced Lecomte to beat away his far-post effort before Fekir dragged a 12-yard effort just wide.

With sought-after striker Alexandre Lacazette sidelined by a hamstring injury, an equaliser was looking less and less likely for Les Gones until N'Jie popped up.

Substitute Yoan Gourcuff started the move and his pass found Henri Bedimo, whose pinpoint cross was steered beyond Lecomte by Lyon's young striker, with the aid of a deflection.

And the visitors almost won it four minutes later when Christophe Jallet's powerful drive took a deflection and looped towards the top corner only for Lecomte to pull off a magnificent save.