Saint Etienne failed to go second place in the Ligue 1 table for the time being, as defiant Rennes held them in Brittany.

The away side aimed to keep up with the pack in the top four, eyeing to leapfrog PSG who won their match earlier. 

Les Verts started with former Rennes striker Mevlut Erding up top while their new signing, Landry N'Guemo, found a spot on the bench. Rennes, without top goal scorer, Paul-Georges Ntep, gave Pedro Henrique a starting opportunity at left-wing. The hosts were without new signing Emre Lenjani and holding midfielder Anders Konradsen, as they both received red cards in the midweek cup tie at Bastia.

It was a game of two halves with the first being a tiresome affair, whereas the second was definitely more lively with more opportunities. 

Both teams took time to settle from kick-off, a mixture of nerves from both teams attributing to the first opportunity illustrated this. Amidst a goal mouth scramble, Ola Toivonen had a clear sight on goal from seven yards, but he swiped the air when he came to release the trigger.

Erding was the first to pose any type of danger to his opponents when the back of his head clipped a cross, without posing much trouble for Rennes keeper, Benoit Costil, who watched the ball go by. Pedro Henrique would have thought that his header would have had better luck, but the Brazilian couldn't direct the ball from the awkward angle in the box. 

Erding was involved once again as another cross was aimed at the former Rennes man, but Sylvain Armand got himself in front off the ball, causing panic as it seemed the ball may be moving goalwards. Fortunately, Erding was in an offside position, sparing any nerves had Armand scored an own goal. 

Attacks from both sides were tame. Examples of this was Bruls' lackluster effort to find Toivonen after beating his opponent and Abdoulaye Doucoure's volley from the edge of the box, which was void of any conviction. The tall centre-midfielder had a similar opportunity as a second ball fell into his path right outside the box but his following shot flew into the crowd. St Etienne's Yohan Mollo found the same results as his shot from 25-yards went wide of the mark, bringing proceedings to a close in the first-half.

Toivonen had a patch of déjà vu in the second half when he was found kicking air again after reacting late to a sublime Romain Danze cross. The Swede chose to use the wrong foot when he finally reacted, helping the away defence to clear with ease. 

In what was an unbelievable turn of events, a rare great attacking move involving Danze, Toivonen and Doucoure ended in the latter man hitting over the bar from close range once again. Danze made good work of cutting back to Toivonen from the byline, Toivonen held the ball well and teed the ball to a waiting Doucoure. The midfielder opted to go for power and skied the ball over the bar. 

The away side were pushing with dangerous balls into the box. Kevin Monnet-Paquet drove in a powerful cross which could have resulted in an own goal as Armand slid in to intercept. Luckily, the veteran defender missed the ball and Costil collected. The next Rennes attack gave the chance for Doucoure to return the favour when he played the ball to Toivonen in space. The striker didn't give the St Etienne goalkeeper, Stephane Ruffier, much bother as he held the ball. 

Monnet-Paquet thought he was in on goal, had it not been for the late interception from Gelson Fernandes who tracked back to tackle the threat posed. Moustapha Sall was then to be the main interceptor when Doucoure crossed towards Toivonen, luckily the defender got in front and cleared the danger. 

In what was the best opportinity to take the lead, positive one-two play between substitute Ricky van Wolfswinkel and Fabien Lemoine resulted in the latter man forcing Costil to earn his money, as the keeper to produce a reflex save - palming out for a corner. St Etienne pushed once more when new signing Landry N'Guemo got his chance in the match, shooting from long range with a massive deflection directing the ball to the side netting. Late chances involving Habib Habibou and Christian Bruls weren't good enough to snatch a late winner for Rennes.

The Red and Blacks host Stade de Reims in the Coupe de France in midweek, whereas Les Verts travel to Ligue 2 strugglers, Tours.