French Ligue 1

Lorient 1-1 Lyon

Lorient and Lyon produced a tight affair that befitted their respective impressive starts to the Ligue 1 season today.

The two clubs have firmly established themselves amongst the leading bunch and that showed at the Stade du Moustoir, with a nip-and-tuck encounter unable to separate them.

Lyon took the lead in the first half through Bafetimbi Gomez, but Jeremie Aliadiere ensured Lorient would not be beaten a minute after the break.

It was no more than Christian Gourcuff's men deserved, even though they were put under the cosh early on.

Lisandro Lopez teed up Gomis with six minutes gone and he hit the post from 20 yards, and the charmed life of Lorient's goal continued 10 later as Clement Grenier cleared Fabien Audard with a lob but was denied by the bar.

A goal had clearly been coming and with 23 minutes gone it arrived, with Gomis, although a shade offside on a second viewing, powering in after a pass from Alexandre Lacazette.

It was the wake-up call Lorient needed and Alain Traore took a leaf out of Lyon's book as he thumped the bar from outside the box, before his goalkeeper did well to deny Milan Bisevac.

Whatever Gourcuff said at the break worked as his players got level inside 60 seconds of the resumption.

Benjamin Corgnet led a counter-attack and the well-travelled Aliadiere was on hand to prod in from close range.

Steed Malbranque looked to get Lyon back ahead but blazed over, and then Aliadiere, Traore and Kevin Monnet-Paquet linked up with the latter going close.

Such well-matched sides were never likely to fall apart late on and so it proved, although Aliadiere, enjoying a new lease of life in the north-west, went close from six yards and nearly set up Maxime Barthelme before the whistle blew.