Football: Airtel Cup-St Michel scrape past Foresters |04 August 2016

St Michel scraped past Foresters 1-0 at Stad Linite on Tuesday evening to kick off the 2016 Airtel Cup.

This was a clash between the two teams who are leading the standing in the first division and it had promised to be an explosive debut of the group matches for this year’s Airtel Cup which will be played on only one round due to time constraints.

St Michel fielded the same team who had come from behind to beat Anse Reunion over the weekend with footballer of the year Carl Hall injured as well as playmaker Hassan Aly while both Gervais Waye-Hive and Yannick Manou starting on the bench.

St Michel came out for the first half with all guns blazing to settle an old score with Foresters who had beaten them in the league this season.

However, they suffered a setback when Alex Nibourette had to be replaced through injury as early as the seventh minute and on came Manou.

St Michel went in search of an early breakthrough in this match and in the ninth minute, Leeroy Corallie played a one-two with Malagasy Jocelyn before shooting at goal but the ball was cleared.

Two minutes later, Manou released Norvil Gaspard whose pinpoint cross fell to the unmarked Jocelyn but he could not direct his header on target.

St Michel thought they should have been awarded a penalty a minute later when the ball came off the hand of Foresters skipper, Malagasy Edgard Nandrasena, as Jocelyn tried to get past him but referee Bernard Camille was not convinced.

St Michel went close in the 19th minute when Foresters’ Yuri Bibi lost the ball to Trevor Poiret who floated it forward to Corallie but Marlon Sophola, who was playing in central defence as David Dorby was suspended, had the ball covered but gave it away to Corallie who hurried his shot straight at goalkeeper Kitson Cecile when he had more time to score.

St Michel’s endeavours’ bore fruit in the 25th minute as Sophola put the ball away for a needless corner under pressure from Corallie. Jocelyn curled the ball into the penalty area, goalkeeper Cecile came out and missed the ball and there was captain Allen Larue to thump his header into the roof of the net to make it 1-0.

St Michel nearly made it 2-0 in the 35th minute from an inswinging free-kick by Jocelyn which Corallie missed by inches to connect with a header much to the relief of goalkeeper Cecile who smothered the ball.

This was a game of two halves to use an old football cliché as Foresters were ready for a fight in the second period and their Ugandan striker Tony Kizito should have done better with a decent chance in the opening seconds as he found space on the right but opted to cross to Yannick Charlette and goalkeeper Gino Melanie snuffed out the danger.  

In the 48th minute, St Michel were unhappy with referee Camille as he failed to punish Sophola who pulled back Jocelyn who had burst through as the official decided to play an advantage which did not come to much and he should surely have gone back to book the Foresters player for this infringement.

Foresters though looked threatening in this half but it was St Michel who had the chances to score such as in the 66th minute when Corallie glided past two defenders to put in a teasing cross which grazed the head of Jocelyn but lacked power to hit the target.

In the 72nd minute, St Michel’s Ghanaian midfielder Emmanuel Luhey, who had a solid game, released Jocelyn and it prompted a rare mistake out of Foresters captain Edgard who should have cut out the danger but allowed his countryman to race through. Jocelyn failed to punish Foresters as he tried to place the ball into the far corner but it was a poor decision as the ball flew wide when he could have even squared to the unmarked Poiret.

St Michel appealed for a goal in the 82nd minute from a super cross by substitute Neil Confiance to Poiret at the near post and he flicked the ball past a stranded goalkeeper Cecile and the ball rolled agonisingly on the goal line with the St Michel supporters shouting for a goal but assistant referee Gilbert Lusta thought otherwise.

There was to be more drama in this match for this good crowd who was enjoying a cracking cup match when in the 83rd minute Foresters substitute Carlos Mondon picked out Kizito whose shot on the turn was well saved by goalkeeper Melanie. 

Foresters again threatened in the second minute of added time from another substitute Richard Servina’s cross which required a double intervention from goalkeeper Melanie and Malagasy defender Leonard Besabotsy to stop Andy Mougal and Kizito from scoring.

St Michel goalkeeper Melanie produced an even more brilliant save with the last kick of the match as he went down low to push out Kizito’s raking shot from Mondon’s pass to help his team edge Foresters in this highly entertaining match.

St Michel manager Andrew Jean-Louis was just pleased his team had resisted a strong showing by their rivals in the second half to make a bright start to the Airtel Cup group matches.

“We had a very good first half where we were in total control and should even have scored more goals but our opponents came at us in the second half though it was a balanced half as we had more chances to score. But today (Tuesday) it was important to win against a fierce rival this season to make a good start in the Airtel Cup,” the St Michel manager said.

As for the Foresters coach Rodney Choisy, he was generally satisfied with his team’s showing in this match despite the loss.

“I was disappointed with our performance in the first half but we improved drastically after the interval and really pushed our opponents hard for an equaliser which unfortunately did not come but I’m satisfied with the effort our players put in and our second half display,” coach Choisy told Sports Nation as he has to rally his troops for another tough match on Saturday against St Louis.

Meanwhile, last night St Louis and The Lions played a 1-1 draw. More details tomorrow.

R. J-L