Evian were left to rue Yannick Sagbo's penalty miss as they played out a goalless draw with Bordeaux in Ligue 1.
Sagbo's spot-kick was saved by Cedric Carrasso midway through the second half in the game's key moment as both sides struggled to create chances.
Bordeaux's scoring deficiencies were exposed again as they remained four points ahead of their opponents and closer to the relegation zone than the Europa League.
Their first chance was handed to them after six minutes when they were given a free-kick in a dangerous position but Ludovic Obraniak curled the ball into the side netting.
Sidney Govou should have put Evian ahead after 23 minutes when he got on the end of Brice Dja Djedje's centre from the right.
The former Lyon striker beat Mickael Ciani with a nice piece of skill but put the ball wide from six yards.
At the other end, Obraniak produced a clever pass to set up Nicolas Maurice-Belay, who fired wide from just inside the penalty area.
A speculative 35-yard effort from Gregory Sertic straight into the arms of Stephan Anderson summed up Bordeaux's lack of penetration seven minutes into the second period.
And they should have been made to pay in the 67th minute when Sagbo was brought down by Carrasso in the area.
Sagbo himself stepped up but Carrasso made amends by diving to his right and pushing the ball away.
Evian went close again late on as Daniel Wass met Guillaume Rippert's superb cross in stoppage time, but his header shaved the post with Carrasso beaten.
