Lens were looking for a victory to keep up the pressure on Ligue 1’s top-two, who meet tomorrow. It wasn’t an easy task in front of them though, as since the return of Michel Der Zakarian as manager at the start of the year, Montpellier had looked far more defensively astute, exemplified by keeping clean sheets in back-to-back wins.
However, his rearguard went to sleep in the opening exchanges of the game, allowing Angelo Fulgini to easily latch onto Seko Fofana’s pass and dink the ball over the onrushing Benjamin Lecomte to hand Lens the lead within four minutes of kick-off.
Having ended their four-game winless run against Nantes last time out, Lens looked like a side with renewed confidence by completely dominating the hosts in the first half.
They ought to have headed down the tunnel with a more significant lead if not for Fulgini and Adrien Thomasson failing to convert good chances before the interval.
The hosts started to apply more pressure following the restart, and put together their best opportunity of the game when Arnaud Nordin’s cutback found Joris Chotard who forced Brice Samba into a good save with a low strike.
Lens responded well to conceding an early chance and went inches away from doubling their advantage, first through Fofana’s header that was pushed away by Lecomte into the path of Kevin Danso, who then struck the bar with his rebounded effort.
The tightest defence in the league was then breached against the run of play. Chotard's wonderfully weighted cross was met at the back post by Faitout Maouassa to head home and level the scores.
Looking for an instant response, Florian Sotoca almost scored his first goal in 10 games when his curling effort, which initially looked destined for the top corner, was expertly tipped round the post by the impressive Lecomte.
Neither side could make the all-important breakthrough in the closing stages and ultimately had to settle for a point each. Lens handed the initiative to their rivals in the race for the Champions League, while Montpellier moved eight points clear of the drop zone.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Seko Fofana (Lens)
