Drab draw for Bastia and Toulouse

Bastia and Toulouse did little to set pulses racing as they played out a drab goalless draw.

Bastia and Toulouse did little to set pulses racing as they played out a drab Ligue 1 stalemate that leaves both still mired in mid-table mediocrity. With both sides seemingly clear of the battle to beat the drop and well short of European qualification, there was an end-of-term feel to proceedings, with neither side firing on all cylinders. The draw was at least sufficient for both sides to snap losing streaks, with Toulouse coming off three straight reverses and Bastia beaten in their last two. Toulouse had the best of what chances there were in the opening half, with Wissam Ben Yedder seeing an early drive deflected away by Julian Palmieri. Etienne Didot and Adrien Regattin both flashed efforts just wide of the Bastia goal before the break but the breakthrough would not come. While Toulouse made all the running in the first 45, the opposite was the case after the restart as Bastia finally came to life and started to cause bother in the final third. They finally produced a shot on goal in the 63rd minute when Anthony Modeste released Florian Thauvin for a first-time effort that was kept out Ali Ahamada. The Bastia goalkeeper was then in the right place to keep out Jerome Rothen's well-struck free-kick from 20 yards. The final chance arrived two minutes from time, and in keeping with the rest of the half it was Bastia doing the pressing. Again, however, Ahamada did the necessary, the 21-year-old in the right place to repel Wahbi Khazri's curling free-kick from just outside the box.