More trouble for Bordeaux

Bordeaux slid into the bottom three after another deeply frustrating Ligue 1 outing in the 0-0 draw with Reims.

Bordeaux slid into the bottom three after another deeply frustrating Ligue 1 outing in the 0-0 draw with Reims. With home advantage at the Stade Chaban-Delmas, and an urgent need to pick up some form, coach Francis Gillot had been hoping for a positive performance from his players in their seventh league outing of the campaign. They showed plenty of eagerness after the break, with second-half substitute Cheick Diabate a lively figure, but failed to break through against a mid-table Reims team who have not lost since their opening game. Gillot's men had halted a three-match losing run in drawing 3-3 at Lorient over the weekend, albeit from 3-1 ahead, yet any hope of another flood of goals was soon shown to be optimistic. After a quiet start in terms of goal action, Bordeaux's Nicolas Maurice-Belay sent a 25-yard strike sailing over Kossi Agassa's crossbar. Reims were next to show attacking intent as a long ball forward found Gaetan Courtet just inside the penalty area, but his first-time effort went narrowly wide. Lamine Sane headed weakly at Agassa, before Reims' Courtet also got a soft connection as he nodded Odair Fortes' delivery at goal just before the break. With Diabate on to pep up the attack after the interval, Bordeaux had more vim about them, and in the 55th minute they had the ball in the back of the net, but following some snappy build-up play Brazilian striker Jussie was offside when he beat Agassa. Diabate bustled through and forced Agassa to make a desperate block as Bordeaux pushed for the breakthrough, with Abdou Traore's attempt to convert the loose ball foiled by a clearance from Mickael Tacalfred. With time almost up, a final chance for Bordeaux fell to Diabate who met a corner from Gregory Sertic with a powerful header, one that Agassa kept out with his first touch and gathered with his second.