LANDREAU BREAKS RECORD AS BASTIA HELD

Mickaël Landreau made a record 603rd top-flight appearance on Wednesday but his SC Bastia side were held to a 1-1 draw by ten-man AC Ajaccio in the Corsican derby.

AC Ajaccio 1 - 1 SC Bastia


Florian Raspentino gave Bastia an early lead in a game played behind closed doors on neutral territory at the Stade Parsemain, home of second-tier side FC Istres. But Ajaccio hit back to earn a point through Eduardo late on, the result lifting them a point clear of bottom side Sochaux but still six points shy of safety. Meanwhile, Bastia, who could have gone sixth with a win, instead end the evening still in eighth place.Having equalled fellow goalkeeper Jean-Luc Ettori's previous record mark of 602 appearances in Sunday's win against Evian-Thonon-Gaillard, the veteran Landreau set a new mark as he captained Bastia in what was the second successive Corsican derby played away from the island itself.In October, Bastia won 1-0 in Martigues when the sides faced off in the Round of 32 of the Coupe de la Ligue. This time, Ajaccio, officially the hosts, arrived with just one win to their name all season and coach Christian Bracconi made a host of changes following Sunday's 4-0 hammering at Bordeaux, six in total.Raspentino gets breakthroughBastia knew a win could take them into the top six, and they also knew that it would be the perfect way to mark Landreau's record-breaking evening. But it was Raspentino, making his first start since the end of September and just his 32nd Ligue 1 appearance overall, who got the breakthrough.The game was just nine minutes old when Guillermo Ochoa boxed out a Ryad Boudebouz strike, and the on-loan Marseille forward Raspentino followed in to score through the legs of the Mexican goalkeeper.Bastia were dealt a blow soon after when Wahbi Khazri was forced off with a thigh injury, with his place being taken by Adama Ba. And Ajaccio then tried unsuccessfully to get back into the game before the break, their struggles in front of goal being summed up by an Eduardo strike that flew well wide of the target. Nadeau off, Eduardo levelsAjaccio did not trouble Landreau in the first half, although they remained in the game and were let off the hook five minutes after the restart when Raspentino struck the bar from six yards out, with Milos Krasic sending the rebound well over the bar.However, Bracconi's side were very much up against it in the 61st minute when 19-year-old defender Joshua Nadeau, making just his third Ligue 1 start, was shown a straight red card by referee Alexandre Castro for a high challenge on Ba.But despite that they battled back to equalise with just eight minutes remaining when a pass from captain Johan Cavalli cut open the Bastia defence and Eduardo latched onto the ball before beating Landreau with a delightful chip for his first goal of the campaign. And they held on to take a point, with Ochoa, so often their saviour over the last two and a half years, making a decisive save in injury time to deny Ilan.