Stade Rennais missed the chance to go top of Ligue 1 on Sunday, blowing a lead to draw 1-1 at home with AS Saint-Etienne.
Rennes winger Jonathan Pitroipa played a one-two with Julien Feret to fire a low shot that goalkeeper Stephane Ruffier parried, but Morocco forward Youssouf Hadji followed up to bury the ball into the net in the 41st minute.
Rennes nearly added a second goal in the 53rd minute when Pitroipa beat the offside trap to be clean through on goal, but the Burkina Faso forward sent his lob over the bar.
Photo: Reuters
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leveled for Saint-Etienne in the 56th minute. The Gabon forward outjumped Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik to head a cross from Fabien Lemoine into the top corner.
Saint-Etienne came close to scoring a winner in the 67th minute. Substitute Max Gradel beat defender Chris Mavinga to the ball, but he dragged his shot wide from 15m out.
“It was a tough match,” Pitroipa told Canal Plus television. “Our level dropped in the second half unfortunately and they equalized. It’s a pity to take only a point tonight.”
Rennes slipped to fifth place, two points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain, Olympique Lyonnais and Toulouse.
“When you score first, you must be able to protect your lead,” Rennes coach Frederic Antonetti said. “That’s something we are not capable of doing. We must work on that.”
Also on Sunday, Dennis Oliech scored a second-half hat-trick to lead AJ Auxerre to a 4-1 win over Sochaux-Montbeliard and AC Ajaccio were held 1-1 at Stade Brestois 29.
Sochaux forward Modibo Maiga collected a pass from Yassin Mikari to beat goalkeeper Olivier Sorin after only two minutes, but Alain Traore converted a low cross from Oliech to get his sixth goal this season and level for Auxerre in the 51st minute.
Oliech then took advantage of a mistake by goalkeeper Teddy Richert to slot into an empty net in the 52nd minute. The Kenya forward converted a rebound in the 63rd minute to make it 3-1, before completing the rout with another goal in the 67th minute.
“It’s a heavy defeat,” Sochaux coach Mecha Bazdarevic told the club’s Web site.
We must get back to work quickly and change our mindset. It has more to do with our heads than with our legs,” he said.
Sochaux also lost 6-2 to Rennes on Wednesday and they have conceded 10 goals in their last two games.
In Brest, striker Nolan Roux put the hosts ahead with a close-range header in the 61st minute, but Ajaccio substitute Richard Socrier equalized with a chip in the 66th minute.
Brest and Ajaccio both remained in the relegation zone.
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