St Etienne held by Toulouse to dampen Champions League hopes

St Etienne missed out on the chance to go second in Ligue 1 as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Toulouse at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.Looking to secure Champions League football on the back of five straight league wins, Christophe Galtier's side were lucky not to come off worse as Wissam Ben Yedder missed a first-half penalty for the visitors before ASSE defender Loic Perrin was sent off late on.Toulouse came flying out of the blocks and were offered the perfect opportunity for an early goal when Martin Braithwaite was hauled down inside the area by Jeremy Clement.Ben Yedder took responsibility from 12 yards but, despite his recent run of good form, the visitors' star man failed to beat the diving Stephane Ruffier's firm hand.Ruffier's work did not finish there and the experienced stopper did well to deny Ben Yedder again, just minutes after the penalty save, before Issa Diop was denied from close range after being picked out by Adrien Regattin.La Tefece had two goals ruled out for offside in the space of 10 first-half minutes when Braithwaite netted from close range before Regattin's direct free-kick evaded everyone but the linesman's flag again went up to deny Toulouse a deserved goal.St Etienne made a late first-half surge but, after having a penalty appeal dismissed when Nolan Roux went down, Florentin Pogba headed wide from just inches out before Valentin Eysseric saw a powerful volley fly over the bar on the stroke of half-time.Looking for the all-important opener that could boost their chances of Champions League qualification, the hosts had to wait until after the hour mark for their first half-chance of the second half but Renaud Cohade's back-post header from Eysseric's corner sailed aimlessly over the crossbar.St Etienne continued to attack but Eysseric's half-hearted volley from Kevin Theophile-Catherine's delivery summed up their day as the ball cleared the left post.Chances of an elusive winner for the hosts diminished when Perrin was given his marching orders for a professional foul on Brazilian forward Somalia with little over 10 minutes left to play.They held out for a sixth successive clean sheet but had to settle for only a point on this occasion.