Metz hold Monaco

PARIS, Jan 26: Monaco drew 1-1 at Metz to increase their lead to 11 points at the top of the French championship on Tuesday though the chasing pack could make inroads into that advantage on Wednesday night, reports AFP.

Monaco, who have made blistering starts in recent matches to score in the first quarter-hour, went a goal down to Metz's winter-break signing Gerald Baticle after 59 minutes.

Italy's Marco Simone hit a 65th-minute equalizer to salvage a point, giving them 49, though Monaco coach Claude Puel may rue a missed opportunity when Paris Saint Germain, Auxerre and Lyon, who have 38 points, play on Wednesday.

"A draw was a fair reflection of the game," Metz coach Joel Muller said after the match. "We did well for an hour but 1-1 was the right result."

Monaco could consider it was a good night's work as they were without injured players David Trezeguet, Marcelo Gallardo and Philippe Christanval, and were playing on an icy pitch rarely seen down in the principality.

Simone, who equalized Baticle's opener following a good cross from Sabri Lamouchi on the right, hit his 16th goal of the season to leave him on top of the league scoring list.

Monaco might even have won the match as they dominated towards the end though it was only thanks to their in-from keeper Fabien Barthez that they did not go behind in the first half.

Monaco did not manage their usual quickfire start to matches so far in 2000. They were 3-0 up against Troyes after 12 minutes and 2-0 up against Rennes after 17 minutes.

Marseille have been through the wars in recent weeks as their coach Bernard Casoni, who succeeded Rolland Courbis, began a new regime, but they managed a 2-1 win at Troyes.

Robert Pires scored for Marseille in the fifth minute, Jerome Monier equalized three minutes before the break before new striker Cyrille Pouget hit the winner at the Stade de l'Aube with half an hour left.

Some 17,000 spectators saw Marseille win their first match in seven weeks and the side was hardly timid in coming out of their shell from the whistle.

Stephane Dalmat, fed by Sebastien Perez, got through the Troyes defence and fired over a perfect cross for Pires, positioned on the penalty spot, who easily shot past keeper Tony Heurtebis.

Troyes hit back with chances through Sladjan Djukic, first a header and then a freekick, and he continued to trouble the south coast club with another couple of efforts in the spell just before the interval.

Jerome Monier, superbly fed by Luciano Zavagno, then made easy work of Patrick Blondeau and Franck Dumas before firing home for the equalizer.

David Hamed and a Zavagno header further troubled Marseille but it was the visiting side which earned the winner. Great work from Dalmat down the left preceded a cross leaving Pouget to chest the ball down and fire it into the net with ease.