French Ligue 1: Lens snatch dramatic draw

Yoann Touzghar snatched a valuable point for strugglers Lens as they were involved in a six-goal thriller at Montpellier.

Morgan Sanson and Lucas Barrios gave the hosts a 2-0 lead inside 16 minutes, but Lens hit back through Perrick Valdivia and Baptiste Guillaume.

Anthony Mounier made it 3-2 to Montpellier in the 62nd minute but it was not enough to seal the win as Touzghar took advantage of a goalkeeping error by Laurent Pionnier to claim the draw which moved 19th place Lens to within two points of safety.

From the first whistle it looked as though Montpellier would cruise to victory.

With just 47 seconds on the clock Mounier broke through the away defence and squared to Sanson, who tapped into the empty net.

Lens looked good on the attack - Adamo Coulibaly struck the woodwork in the 10th minute - but at the other end of the pitch they were poor and moments later Montpellier went 2-0 up.

Jonas Martin touched the ball into Barrios' path after some good work by Sanson and the Paraguay international converted first time.

Lens fought back, reducing the deficit within two minutes through Valdivia, who blasted a powerful shot beyond Pionnier and Guillaume then equalised for the Ligue 1 relegation candidates with a well-taken header.

The advantage swung back Montpellier's way after the break, however.

Mounier timed his run to perfection at the back post in the 62nd minute, converting Souleymane Camara's delivery with his left boot.

Coulibaly put an easy header wide 11 minutes later, much to Antoine Kombouare's dismay.

But the Lens coach did not need to worry. His side managed to nick a point in the 79th minute when Pionnier punched Lalaina Nomenjanahary's cross straight to Touzghar, who lashed home his fourth goal of the season.