Marama Vahirua cancelled out Loic Perrin's goal to earn Nancy a point in a 1-1 draw at home to St Etienne.

Vahirua could have stolen further headlines as the game drew to a close too, but his free-kick came back off the bar.

The result does little to help either side, with St Etienne remaining in 10th while Nancy are two points and five places adrift of them.

Nancy started well and Vahirua was in the thick of the action early on, forcing Jeremie Janot into an outstanding, full-length save to keep out his well-placed lob.

At the other end, Blaise Matuidi took in a pass from Perrin and crashed a shot wide, while Emmanuel Riviere was denied by Damien Gregorini as he ran on to a pass from Dimitri Payet.

Payet was causing all sorts of problems and his pass played in Perrin, who snatched at an opportunity just before the break and was unable to trouble the goalkeeper.

The game livened up five minutes after half-time, with Perrin finding the net.

After a corner was not cleared, a weak flap by Gregorini saw the ball fall to Bakary Sako. He took aim and, although Gregorini got down to deny him, Perrin followed up with a close-range volley.

Nancy thought they had equalised six minutes later but, rather than cross the line, Landry N'Guemo's header slammed against the post.

It did not take too long for the leveller to come, though, with Vahirua finding his range with a free-kick from the left of the penalty area that flew into the top right corner.

That was after 66 minutes, and just 10 minutes later, Vahirua was almost at it again, seeing another delightful free-kick come back off the bar.

Nancy were not done there, with Julien Feret drawing a fine save from Janot, but there would be no winner.