Lille held at home

Lille endured a frustrating afternoon at Stade Metropole as they were held to a goalless draw by out-of-form Nantes.

Lille endured a frustrating afternoon at Stade Metropole as they were held to a goalless draw by out-of-form Nantes. Rene Girard's men are challenging for a place in the Champions League next season, but failed to turn periods of pressure into goals, with visiting goalkeeper Remy Riou also playing his part late on. On the positive side, Lille are unbeaten in six matches but Nantes are now nine matches without a win in Ligue 1 and still looking nervously below them in the standings. Despite their poor run of form, Nantes carved out the first chance after 12 minutes when Lucas Deaux found Serge Gakpe with a neat pass which the midfielder fired goalwards, only to see his effort deflected wide by defender Florent Balmont. Lille took time to settle but came close after 35 minutes with a header from Salomon Kalou which he headed narrowly wide. Kalou then teed up team-mate Florent Balmont as the interval approached, but his well-struck effort was turned away by defender Abdoulaye Toure. The visitors were given a helping hand in their own attempts to score on 52 minutes, when Nolan Roux's efforts to clear a Banel Nicolita corner came close to backfiring as his header came back off the crossbar. And Nantes threatened again within minutes, Olivier Veigneau providing a cross for Itay Shechter, whose shot from close range was swept off the line by Franck Beria. Having weathered the unexpected storm, Lille hit back with a free-kick from Balmont which needed a good save from Riou to keep out of the top corner. And Riou's presence was felt even more in injury time as he palmed away a close-range volley from Beria which seemed certain to steal the win for Lille.