Nice failed to convert a late penalty and had to settle for a 1-1 draw with St-Etienne in their Ligue 1 encounter on Saturday.

The visitors started the match the brighter of the two teams and could have gone 2-0 up inside the first 20 minutes.

Lloyd Palun was forced to clear Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's header off the line via a post in the 17th minute, and two minutes later Fabien Lemoine drew goalkeeper Joris Delle into a brilliant save.

Those misses came back to bite St-Etienne when Nice went ahead on 29 minutes, Eric Bautheac tapping in Jeremy Pied's cross.

The home side pressed on for a two-goal cushion in the second half, but conceded the equaliser 15 minutes from time, Brandao turning in Renaud Cohade's flick.

However, Nice could have bagged maximum points in the 85th minute when they were awarded a penalty.

Jeremy Clement brought down Valentin Eysseric inside the 18-yard box, but Darío Cvitanich failed to convert the spot kick.