Stade Rennes 0-0 St Etienne

St Etienne failed to apply pressure to Marseille as they were held to a goalless draw against Rennes at the Stade de la Route de Lorient.With OM due to play late on Sunday evening, Christophe Galtier's side knew a first win in Rennes since 2005 would be enough to see them at least temporarily leapfrog their rivals into second place in Ligue 1.However, in what proved to be an uninspiring clash, neither side did enough to warrant taking home the prize of all three points.In a dour opening 45 minutes Rennes struggled without the attacking flair of the injured Paul-Georges Ntep, who faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines with a thigh injury.The hosts only real goalscoring opportunity came their way early on but the unmarked Ola Toivonen failed to make contact eight yards out on Pedro Henrique's dangerous free-kick.Les Verts had a rare chance with 15 minutes played but Mevlut Erding's header was wayward after Yohan Mollo picked him out from a corner.Rennes' Abdoulaye Doucoure had an opportunity to test Stephane Ruffier after Henrique's free-kick was dealt with insufficiently by the St Etienne defence, but his half-volley sailed into the stands behind the goal.There was still a chance before the break for Mollo to threaten at the other end but his rasping shot from distance ended up just wide of the right post, much to the relief of the beaten Benoit Costil.The interval did little to invigorate either side as St Etienne's miserly defence looked as unlikely as ever to be breached.Then, on the hour mark, Doucoure was gifted a decent chance for the opener when Toivonen laid off Romain Danze's cross into his path but the 22-yeard-old midfielder rushed his shot and blazed way over Ruffier's bar.Moments later roles were reversed and Doucoure teed up Toivonen for an effort on goal but Ruffier made a solid save to keep out the former PSV Eindhoven striker's half-volley from outside the area.With time running out for either side, Les Verts' Fabien Lemoine burst into the area but, after playing a neat one-two with Ricky van Wolfswinkel, he saw his goalbound effort superbly turned away by Costil.Despite Landry N'Guemo going close to a debut goal late on for St Etienne, as his deflected shot ended up in the side-netting, neither side was able to make a telling difference.ends