Ligue 1: Marseille 0 Ajaccio 0

Marseille’s Ligue 1 title pursuit hit a bump after they were held to a scoreless draw by Ajaccio at the Stade Velodrome on Friday.

In a game Elie Baup’s Marseille were expected win, the home side dominated the first half but could not find the breakthrough.

Andre-Pierre Gignac and Mathieu Valbuena both spurned two opportunities each as Marseille struggled to penetrate a stubborn Ajaccio defence.

Ajaccio went close to snatching the lead after the restart when Frederic Sammaritano flashed a shot narrowly wide of the mark.

The hosts responded with a chance to Modou Sougou, who saw his shot saved by Guillermo Ochoa.

Substitute Jordan Ayew nearly won it for Marseille as the game wound down but he could only manage to loop his header agonisingly wide of the far post.

The result leaves Marseille six points behind league-leaders Paris Saint-Germain in third place on the table.

Ajaccio are two games out of the relegation zone in 13th, with the rest of the weekend’s fixtures yet to be played.