Sochaux battle back to draw

Sochaux gave Herve Renard's hopes of saving them from Ligue 1 relegation a boost by earning a 2-2 draw against Monaco.

Sochaux gave new coach Herve Renard's hopes of saving them from Ligue 1 relegation a boost by earning a 2-2 draw against title challengers Monaco after coming back from two goals down. Yannick Ferreira Carrasco scored twice inside the first 10 minutes as Monaco got off to a flying start. But the home side, who did not really get going until after the break, hit back to ensure a share of the spoils with goals from Cedric Bakambu and Joseph Lopy. The visitors were a goal to the good after five minutes as Marcel Tisserand crossed from the left and Carrasco finished from close range to beat Simon Pouplin. Five minutes later Carrasco had doubled the lead when he pounced on a poor back pass from Carlao and beat Pouplin with a low shot across goal. With 21 minutes on the clock Sochaux had their first chance when Bakambu combined with Emmanuel Mayuka and the latter saw his shot from the edge of the area well saved by Danijel Subasic. Sochaux were encouraged by that chance and Mayuka released Sebastien Roudet whose instant shot was cleared by Ricardo Carvalho. The ball fell to Rafael Dias 20 yards out and his shot was saved at full stretch by Subasic. With half an hour gone Monaco's James Rodriguez floated in a free-kick from distance which Radamel Falcao met with a strong header only to see his effort blocked by Pouplin. Three minutes into the second half Fabinho's corner from the right found Rodriguez but his header from close range was blocked on the line by Pouplin. Falcao came to Subasic's rescue as he cleared a close range shot from Mathieu Peybernes off the line, following a Dias corner on the left, with the goalkeeper well beaten. But Sochaux did get their breakthrough after 57 minutes when Bakambu was left unmarked at the far post where he headed Dias' corner past Subasic. Three minutes later Subasic was well placed to beat away a 25-yard free-kick from Dias as Sochaux looked for the equaliser. But with just over 20 minutes remaining Sochaux were back on level terms when Lopy scored his first Ligue 1 goal. Dias was again the provider as his corner from the right caused more problems in the Monaco defence. Lopy escaped his marker Falcao and headed the ball over Subasic to earn Sochaux a share of the points.