Metz have held Nantes to a goalless draw this evening to climb out of the Ligue 1 relegation zone.

Yacine Bammou wasted two openings to edge the hosts ahead in the early stages of the contest when he met a couple of crosses swung into the box, missing the target on each occasion.

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The Canaries took control of the possession stakes in the opening quarter, but Sergey Krivets almost fired Metz ahead with their first chance of the game, only for Remy Riou to read the play well.

Gaetan Bussmann and Krivets once more saw chances come and go in a tightly-fought first half which could have gone either way.

Chances proved to be few and far between following the restart, with Florent Malouda unable to convert an opportunity which fell his way six minutes from time with what was arguably the half's best opening, while Bouna Sarr saw his late effort come back off the bar.

Metz, who had lost five of their last six coming into this game to drop into trouble, managed to see out the game to claim a point and stop the rot in the process.

The draw takes Les Grenats up to 17th place, level on points with Evian TG in the bottom three, while Nantes fall further adrift of the top four.