Saint-Etienne level with Auxerre

Auxerre were held to a 1-1 draw by Saint-Etienne, their sixth draw in nine Ligue 1 games this season, despite taking an early lead at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. Ben Sahar struck after five minutes and Anthony Le Tallec was denied a second for offside just seven minutes later. But Josua Guilavogui equalised before half-time and each team hit the woodwork in the second half as an entertaining encounter ended all square. Defender Jeremy Clement was culpable as Auxerre took an early lead when he was caught in possession by Le Tallec, who raced into the box and set up Sahar to finished right-footed. The pair linked up again in the 12th minute, Sahar picking out Le Tallec in the box, and he slotted home but the flag went up. Saint-Etienne's first effort of note came when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ran unchallenged to the edge of the box and shot inches wide. However, they did equalised in the 38th minute when Loris Nery's cross was headed against the post by Lynel Kitambala and Guilavogui followed up to head home. The hosts almost led two minutes into the second half, but Bakary Sako's thunderous left-footed shot rebounded off the upright. And it was Le Tallec's turn to hit the post in the 67th minute with a left-footed  effort from Dennis Oliech's flick-on. Auxerre defender Amadou Sidibe had to stand firm to deflect Aubameyang's effort behind just two minutes later. Both sides had chances to win it in the last ten minutes, starting with Auxerre as Oliech met Omar Kossoko's cross but shot straight at Stephane Ruffier. The home side's chance came from a free-kick with five minutes left, but keeper Olivier Sorin kept out both that effort and Aubameyang's follow-up.