Ten-man Lille have scored a late equaliser to salvage a 1-1 draw against Bastia at Grand Stade Lille Metropole this evening.
Bastia were winless in their last seven away matches and they were lucky not to fall behind after only a few minutes when Marko Basa's shot from the centre of the box was blocked after he had been found by Yaw Yeboah.
The home side came within inches of opening the scoring after 17 minutes when their top scorer Sofiane Boufal struck the post with a fierce effort from 20 yards with Jean-Louis Leca beaten.
Eric Bautheac headed off target as the home side struggled to wrestle control of the game, and Adama Soumaoro somehow headed over the crossbar from point-blank range soon after the restart.
Herve Renard's struggling side were hit with a sucker punch with 17 minutes remaining when Gael Danic was on hand to turn home his third goal of the season and put Bastia within sight of their first away win of the season.
Things went from bad to worse for the hosts in the closing stages as Boufal was sent off for a high foot, but against the odds they found an equaliser through Djibril Sidibe with three minutes remaining to salvage a point.
Tom Nightingale
