Lorient held by Bastia

Lorient's poor Ligue 1 run continued as they were held to a 1-1 home draw by Bastia.

Lorient's poor run continued as they were held to a 1-1 home draw by Bastia. Ecuele Manga's 35th-minute strike gave Lorient hope of ending their barren streak - they have won just once in 10 games - only for Gianni Bruno to equalise shortly after half-time. Lorient had been dreaming of an unlikely European push when they strung five wins together in December, but their form has deserted them completely and plunged them into the bottom half of Ligue 1. The hosts created the first chance after eight minutes when Kevin Monnet-Paquet raced down the left and laid the ball back to Vincent Aboubaker. His shot was sweetly hit, but high over the crossbar. Florent Chaigneau made a good save when Bastia first threatened, holding on from a 25-yard Christian Romaric curler. Chaigneau then turned another long-range try from Julien Sable behind for a corner. Lorient grabbed the lead 10 minutes before half-time when Manga turned in a Yann Jouffre free-kick. Jouffre fizzed the set-piece into a dangerous position and Manga out-positioned the away defence to be first to the ball and score. Lorient's lead was short-lived as Bastia levelled four minutes after the re-start. It was a memorable strike too as Bruno lashed a volley, after being found by veteran Djibril Cisse, with pace and accuracy. Lorient almost stole the lead right back when Jeremy Aliadiere beat Jean-Louis Leca, only to see Romaric race back and clear the goal-bound shot. Wahbi Khazri saw a shot well kept out by Chaigneau as Bastia tried to take toll of Lorient's recent wobbles, before Monnet-Paquet hit the home side's last chance straight at the keeper.