Bordeaux draw at Brest

Bordeaux drew 1-1 with Brest in an entertaining Ligue 1 encounter at Stade Francis-Le Ble.

Bordeaux drew 1-1 with Brest in an entertaining Ligue 1 encounter at Stade Francis-Le Ble. Eden Ben Basat opened the scoring for the hosts before Cheick Diabate levelled for Bordeaux after the break. Both sides also hit the woodwork in an even contest, which in the end probably produced in a fair result. Bordeaux came into the match riding high in the league after an unbeaten start, but wounded from a comprehensive 3-0 defeat at Newcastle in the Europa League in midweek. Brest, meanwhile, were bidding for a fourth win in eight matches, but almost found themselves behind as early as the sixth minute when Jaroslav Plasil's cross was missed by Paul Baysse but Yoan Gouffran could only fire wide. A minute later Brest were on the rack again when Baysse's loose pass was seized on by Diabate, who shot beyond Alexis Thebaux only to see Ahmed Kantari get back to clear off the line. The danger was still not over as Diabate followed up, but this time his effort rattled the crossbar. With 22 minutes gone Ben Basat drilled in a shot from distance that Cedric Carrasso pushed away, but on 37 minutes a counter-attack brought the breakthrough for Brest. The moved culminated with Benoit Lesoimier releasing Ben Basat and the Israeli held his nerve to poke the ball beyond Carrasso and in off a post. In the 55th minute Ludovic Obraniak went close with a 25-yard free-kick for Bordeaux, while seven minutes later the visitors had the ball in the net through Gouffran only to see the referee rule it out for a foul by Diabate on Thebaux in the build-up. The visitors' pressure finally told in the 68th minute when Benoit Tremoulinas crossed from the left for Diabate, who fired beyond the wrong-footed Thebaux. With four minutes remaining Gouffran was kept at bay by a combination of Thebaux and defender Ahmed Kantari, but it was the hosts who came closest to claiming all the points late on when Mario Licka's free-kick was met by Baysse but his header crashed off the crossbar.