Marseille deny Bordeaux

Marseille came back from two goals down to claim a hard-fought 2-2 draw with Bordeaux at the Stade Velodrome.

Marseille came back from two goals down to claim a hard-fought 2-2 draw with Bordeaux at the Stade Velodrome. Jussie's first-half strike and a second from Nicolas Maurice-Belay sent Bordeaux into a surprise two-goal lead. But in a blistering 60-second period, strikes from Alaixys Romao and Andre-Pierre Gignac secured a point for Marseille, under the control of caretaker coach Jose Anigo following Elie Baup's sacking. Marseille's failure to claim all three points leaves them without a Ligue 1 win in four games and languishing in sixth place. With Mathieu Valbuena out injured the hosts looked to Florian Thauvin for their creative spark and the enigmatic young forward almost added to his burgeoning reputation when he latched onto a Kassim Abdallah ball from deep with 10 minutes played. But the 20-year-old's stinging effort was tipped over by Cedric Carrasso. Thauvin continued to torment the Bordeaux defence and should have done better after taking both Henrique and Mariano out of the game with a clever dummy, but he fired wide of the right post with only Carrasso to beat. The hosts were not having it all their own way though and, as the half-hour mark approached, Ludovic Obraniak got the wrong side of the Marseille defence but the Poland international could only drag his effort wide of Steve Mandanda's goal. However, it was not long before the visitors breached OM's defence once again - and this time to greater effect. Obraniak swung in a corner from the left and Jussie was allowed to rise highest and power a header beyond Mandanda to send his side into a first-half lead. Marseille almost levelled on the stroke of half-time but the unmarked Giannelli Imbula steered Abdallah's cross wide of Carrasso's post from just inside the area and Bordeaux's advantage remained intact. Les Girondins almost doubled their lead straight after the restart but Henri Saivet's touch let him down at a crucial moment after he latched onto a poor back-pass from Abdallah. Bordeaux continued to frustrate their opponents as the half wore on, limiting their opponents to shots from distance, and their resolute performance paid off when Maurice-Belay took advantage of some poor defending to double the visitors' lead on 65 minutes. Brazilian full-back Carlos Henrique made space for a cross on the right and Abdallah hesitated in the area to allow Bordeaux's number 19 to finish confidently. However, the game was turned on its head within the space of 60 seconds when Marseille miraculously drew themselves level with little under 20 minutes to play. Firstly, Thauvin found the post with a free-kick from out wide before Romao pounced on the rebound to give the hosts hope. And almost straight from the restart, Marseille's opening goalscorer latched onto a ball from deep and pushed the ball into the path of Gignac, who poked the ball over the line to send the Velodrome wild. OM had the chance to take all three points as they pressed for a winner but Carrasso pulled off the save of the match to keep out Souleymane Diawara's header and both teams settled for a share of the spoils.