Nantes 0 : 0 Saint-Etienne - Riou the hero for Nantes

Posted Monday, November 24, 2014 by PA

Nantes had goalkeeper Remy Riou to thank for holding out a late onslaught from St Etienne as the two sides recorded a goalless draw at the Stade de la Beaujoire.

The result sees Michel Der Zakarian's side extend their undefeated run to 10 games in all competitions to leave them fifth, hot on the heels of the top four, while for their opponents it was a fourth consecutive draw as the point moved them up to sixth.

The visitors had the chance to go in front three minutes in as Kevin Monnet-Paquet retrieved the ball from Issa Cissokho near the penalty area, but his curled right-footed effort was deflected away by Riou.

Nantes struck back with chance of their own minutes later as Kevin Theophile-Catherine's header was poorly cleared towards Olivier Veigneau, who swooped on the ball, chested it and volleyed only for Stephane Ruffier to put in a diving save to his left as he cleared it.

The hosts could have taken the lead midway through the first half as Georges Nkoudou led a counter attack all the way and delivered a beautiful ball to Vincent Bessat inside the penalty area, but his instant volley was held out by Ruffier.

St Etienne almost broke the deadlock two minutes later as Romain Hamouma brought the ball in on the right and laid it off to Monnet-Paquet for a low drive before he beat Riou with his shot - which then hit the post.

As the first half wore on, Ruffier held out Nantes' Yacine Bammou's close-range shot to keep things level at the break.

The hosts had two good chances to take the lead in the second half. The first one St Etienne had Ruffier to thank as he thwarted away Itay Shechter's close-range effort.

The second Ruffier managed to send out for a corner as Nantes began to press after Jordan Veretout released Nkoudou on the right, he ran toward the goal, he dribbled past Tabanou and Clement before his drilled shot was held out by the away keeper.

The visitors had two good chances to steal a late winner but although Tabanou's free-kick on the edge of the box found the head of Bayal Sall, Riou was well placed to deny them.

And two minutes from time Max-Alain Gradel picked up the ball on the edge of the penalty area and - surrounded by defenders - he managed to shoot on target before Riou slapped the ball away to earn his side a point.