AIRTEL CUP-St Louis suns struggle to victory |09 May 2009

The match kicked off with a minute’s silence in memory of Jonathan Bibi’s grandmother, who was buried on Wednesday.

St Louis Suns were not up to their best but still had a little more than Dynamo when they raised their game. In the fifth minute, Andy Mougal countered to release Wilnes Brutus, who raced through but shot across goal.

Dynamo responded four minutes later from Evans Télémaque’s corner to Damien Tamboo, whose strong shot was deflected for a corner.

St Louis Suns opened the scoring somewhat luckily as Malagasy captain Jimmy Radafison picked out his colleague Jean Del’Or Tsaralaza, who eluded two defenders but was fouled. Referee Gonzague Boniface played a good advantage as the ball broke to Mougal, whose cross-cum-shot sailed over goalie Jules Monnaie for a 1-0 lead.

In the 33rd minute, Brutus seized on a defensive error to shoot just across goal and he was guilty of a bad miss two minutes later.

St Louis Suns brought on Alpha Baldé early in the second half to raise their game after they had lacked sparkle in the first.
In the 57th minute, Baldé’s curling free kick was pushed out by Monnaie to Malagasy Hasinarivola Rijaniaina, who had a very poor game on Thursday. Rijaniaina’s fierce low drive was cleared on the goal-line.

Dynamo, though, got their reward for their hard work in the 62nd minute from Télémaque’s corner, which former St Louis Suns defender Ronny Hoareau headed past goalie Joel Lesperance, who was making his debut (1-1).

The Dynamo defender, though, was gutted three minutes later as he turned Mougal’s teasing cross past his own goalkeeper with a fierce shot to restore St Louis Suns’ lead (2-1).

In the 69th minute, Baldé linked up with Brutus but he shot narrowly wide after skipping past a defender.
St Louis Suns secured their victory in the 85th minute after good work involving Denis Barbé on the left wing with Brutus.

They exchanged passes to leave Dynamo defenders in their wake, allowing Barbé to shoot low past Monnaie for a 3-1 lead.
Two minutes later, Mougal threatened to increase their lead as he pounced on a loose ball but his stinging shot produced a flying save from Monnaie.

In the 89th minute, Dynamo cut St Louis Suns’ lead from Télémaque’s floated free kick, which Valerio Dorothé headed home just under the crossbar for a 2-3 score.

St Louis Suns, though, held on for three more points despite a below-par performance with a defence affected by injury to key players.

As for Dynamo, they will be kicking themselves for not taking at least a point in a match where they could have upset St Louis Suns.

R. J-L.