Football: SF division one league - St Louis battle back to beat St John Bosco |30 July 2016
St Louis battled back from a goal down to edge St John Bosco 2-1 in a nail-biting first division league encounter at Stad Linite on Thursday.
This match began with both teams observing a minute’s silence in the centre circle before kick-off in honour of the father of St Louis player Jude Nancy who passed away last week.
St Louis drew first blood as Gerick Vidot went mighty close with a well-worked free kick in the 5th minute which rolled agonisingly wide of goalkeeper Duane Romain’s post.
Bosco though stunned St Louis in the 15th minute when they lost the ball in defence and Yves Zialor threaded a pass to Julio Edmond who burst through on the right to thump the ball into the roof of the net past Malagasy goalkeeper Michel to make it 1-0 as the Bosco supporters rejoiced in the stands.
St Louis had a decent chance in the 26th minute to draw level from captain Mervin Mathiot’s corner which caused a mêlée in the Bosco penalty area and the loose ball fell to Jean-Paul Aglaé but he rifled his shot over the crossbar.
Captain Mathiot had an even better chance to equalise in the 34th minute from Vidot’s inch-perfect cross which sailed over a defender and onto his feet, but in the clear, his control let him down to waste a great opportunity.
Bosco also were presented with a decent chance in the 42nd minute when Malagasy Herizo Razaparany stole the ball from St Louis defender Nancy to release Zialor but the former St Michel and La Passe striker was not quick enough allowing goalkeeper Michel to race out to clear the danger as the Pointe Larue-based team went in at the interval in the lead.
St Louis made two changes early in the second half to bolster their attack as Nigerian Kazeem Adeyeri and Elijah Tamboo came in and in the 65th minute, Vidot fired a gilt-edge chance inches wide after goalkeeper Romain had parried captain Mathiot’s free kick into his path.
St Louis swamped all over Bosco in the second half and in the 68th minute Tamboo should have hit the target after Malagasy Tahiry’s shot was pushed out by goalkeeper Romain to his feet but he shot tamely straight at the Bosco shot stopper.
The game grew quite physical as St Louis went in search of an equaliser and Bosco at times were furious with referee Nelson Emile for allowing St Louis to get away with some crude challenges.
In the 84th minute as St Louis pushed forward and Bosco packed their defence to defend their advantage, Adeyeri latched onto a loose ball to set up Tamboo who flashed his shot across goal.
St Louis fluffed another good scoring chance in the 87th minute from captain Mathiot’s cross which the out-of-form Adeyeri headed down to Tamboo but he shot weakly at goalkeeper Romain who smothered his shot.
St Louis got a decisve breakthrough for their persistence in the first minute of the five extra minutes allocated when captain Mathiot floated his corner into the penalty area and there was Tahiry who headed past goalkeeper Romain to level matters at 1-1.
This match had now turned on its head and there was to be more drama as St Louis snatched victory from the jaws of defeat three minutes later when Tahiry skipped past former Plaisance defender Vanerick Michel to fire at goalkeeper Romain who failed to hold on to the ball and the lurking Tamboo headed the bobbling ball into the net for a sensational turn-around in St Louis’ fortune in this match and they celebrated what turned out to be the winning goal in this hard fought 2-1 final result.
St Louis coach Nigel Freminot was full of praise for his team’s fighting spirit in this match which looked to be slipping from their grasp until those two last-gasp goals.
“I must congratulate my players as they played well especially in the second half after a slow start in the first period and we kept pushing for a goal and I’m very pleased with the extra effort they put in the last 15 minutes to turn this match in our favour,” the St Louis coach revealed to Sports Nation.
As for Bosco coach Roger Labonté, he was really upset with the official who in his opinion had cost them the points in this fiercely contested match.
“My team played really well but unfortunately the referee turned the game in our opponents’ favour and punished us unfairly and helped our opponents to win and so we are very disappointed with the level of officiating in this match which we should have won,” coach Labonté told Sports Nation as some of his players confronted referee Nelson Emile after the match throwing insults at him and even trying to assault him which was unnecessary. These acts of misbehaviour will surely be investigated by the federation.
R. J-L