Bordeaux held by Rennes

Bordeaux moved up two places to seventh in the Ligue 1 table despite being held to a 2-2 draw by Rennes.

Bordeaux moved up two places to seventh in the Ligue 1 table despite being held to a 2-2 draw by Rennes at Stade Chaban Delmas on Saturday. The result was the fourth consecutive draw for the home side, who went two goals up thanks to efforts either side of the break from Guillaume Hoarau and Diego Rolan before Abdoulaye Doucoure and Romain Alessandrini struck back in five second-half minutes to clinch a point for Rennes. The result saw Francis Gillot's side narrowly close the gap on fourth-placed St Etienne to 10 points with six games remaining, while the point meant their opponents - now unbeaten in the last four matches - moved up a spot into 11th. The home side had the best of the opening exchanges and could have taken the lead early on had Gregory Sertic's curled effort inside the penalty area beaten Benoit Costil at full stretch. Midway through the first half, Alessandrini's free-kick outside the 18-yard box was blocked by goalkeeper Cedric Carrasso in the air as Rennes pushed for an opener. But it was Bordeaux who took the lead after 37 minutes. Rolan fed striker Hoarau with a long ball through and the latter coolly controlled it and fired it into the back of the net beating Costil from near the penalty spot. Both sides took a while to get going in the second half and it took until the hour mark for Gillot's men to double their advantage. Abdou Traore set up Hoarau on the left, who flicked the ball toward Mariano who in turn picked out Rolan, and the the young Uruguayan took on and beat Costil with a great shot across the goal to land it in the top of the net. Rennes were not for giving up and struck back with their first goal after 64 minutes as Doucoure got on the end of Jean de Makoun's cross and slotted home from close range. Four minutes later, the visitors netted the equaliser after more good play from Makoun, who again led the attack and this time freed Grosicki on the right, crossing the ball toward the far post where Alessandrini volleyed from point-blank range to beat Carrasso again. The home side almost clinched all three points in four minutes of added time but Costil held out Rolan's superb volley as Rennes clung on for a draw.