Puel rues missed points

Lyon coach Claude Puel said his side deserved better in their 1-1 draw with Auxerre, but vowed to ‘stay sensible’ in the wake of the result.

Lyon were one of several clubs to pass up the chance of ascending to the top of the Ligue 1 table on Wednesday, ensuring Lille kept their lead ahead of the chasing field going into the Christmas break.

Jean Mignot’s 45th-minute own goal gave Lyon the advantage in front of their home crowd, but Julien Quercia’s second-half strike ensured the sides would share the spoils.

Having held sway for large periods of the game, Puel was left to rue two missed points.

“It wasn’t a good night for us,” he said.

“My players gave everything they had and, three days after Marseille’s game, we had a good match despite the draw. So it’s really a disappointment, because we deserved a better result.”

But Puel urged caution: “We need to stay sensible,” he said.

“With a win, we wouldn’t have been crowned champions and, with this draw, we are not dead either. It was an interesting game. The season still has a long way to go so we need to keep on playing good football.”

Auxerre manager Jean Fernandez acknowledged his side ‘were dominated’ by Lyon, but said the point was a just reward for a sound defensive performance.

“It was a good game for us, even if we were dominated for the entire match,” he said.

“But we were expecting that. We knew Lyon were better than us. But our defence played very well and we managed to avoid giving Lyon some goalscoring opportunities. On the offensive side, we missed some good chances.”

The result keeps Auxerre at 14th and five points from the relegation zone, while Lyon drop a spot on the table to fourth but are just one point adrift of Lille.