Recap: Boakye's stunner earns draw for ASSE vs Nantes

The sides sat in 15th and 16th in the Ligue 1 McDonald's table faced off on Sunday afternoon as Saint-Étienne hosted Nantes in a vital six-pointer in the race to stay up in the top flight. Nantes sat just above Sainté in the table on goal difference, with everything to play for at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.

Saint-Étienne have won one of their last five games in the league, but they did face Paris Saint-Germain following Eirik Horneland's first win in charge against Reims (3-1) on his debut on the ASSE bench. Meanwhile, Nantes managed to secure a decent draw against AS Monaco (2-2) in their last outing, which put them on level-pegging with Saint-Étienne before this afternoon's crucial fixture.

Les Canaris were the first to strike on the afternoon as Moses Simon opened the scoring, profiting off an error from Denis Appiah to head one on one on goal against Gaëtan Larsonneur and finish convincingly past the Sainté keeper (14'). After protests from the hosts for a possible foul, VAR then validated the goal in favour of the away side. It was perhaps what was needed for the hosts to start to play a more offensive game, as ASSE began to patiently hold onto the ball and create a few chances of their own.

Boakye banger brings ASSE level

After the half-time break, N'Guessan had a perfect chance to level proceedings after being played in-behind by a clever through ball, but managed to just miss the target with a low considered strike which trickled past the right post. Nantes would then try their best to capitalise on their lead as Nicolas Cozza's dangerous cross had to be parried away by a reeling Larsonneur.

Boakye was substituted on for Sainté, and looked to make an immediate impact with an incisive run into the box, but the shot was easily smothered by Anthony Lopes in goal for the Canaris. The Ghanaian international had a second bite of the cherry late on in the game, and this time he made no mistake from long range: he curled a wicked strike past Lopes from around 30-yards to put Les Verts level in the affair (86'). Avoiding what could have been a disastrous defeat, Saint-Étienne keep Nantes within touching distance in the Ligue 1 McDonald's table.

THE STAT: RECORD POSESSION FOR SAINTÉ

Saint-Étienne have recorded today their highest possession percentage in a Ligue 1 McDonalds match since Opta has been collecting this data, in 2006-2007 (74.9%). Their 740 passes for 653 completed are also their highest tallies in a top-flight match over the period.

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