Football: UCPS Triangular Tournament |06 February 2017

Côte D’Or and St Louis draw, Dynamo win competition

2016 League champions Côte D’Or were held to a 2-2 draw by St Louis in the penultimate match in the UCPS sponsored triangular tournament on Saturday at Stad Linite as Northern Dynamo won the competition with two victories.

On Friday, Northern Dynamo had come from behind to edge the Praslin side 2-1 after they went ahead at 1-0 with a strike from Dine Suzette.

Côte D’Or though had fielded a second string team as they had another match the following day whereas Dynamo, who were playing their second match in two days, equalised in the second half as Malagasy Rajamana made it 1-1 before minutes later grabbing his brace to help the players of coach Cliff Nolin to a 2-1 triumph, their second win in this competition which assured them the cup.

Côte D’Or and St Louis draw

Côte D’Or had to come from behind to earn a 2-2 draw in this quite entertaining match on Saturday in bright sunshine in front of a decent crowd of mostly St Louis fans.

The defending league champions, who are preparing for their African Adventure this Saturday where they face Ethiopian champions Coffee FC, drew first blood on Saturday as 2016 Footballer of the year Benoit Marie let fly a long range free kick in the 3rd minute which took a nasty deflection off the St Louis wall to wrong foot goalkeeper Jalyl Servina to make it 1-0.

Côte D’Or’s lead though was short lived as St Louis levelled matters two minutes later as Collin Bibi rifled a shot from the penalty edge which struck a defender to wrong foot goalie Jean-Paul Lesperance to make it 1-1.

In the 10th minute, Gervais Waye-Hive, making his first start in the St Louis colours, linked up with Danny Madeleine whose inch perfect cross fell to the unmarked Elijah Tamboo but he could not direct his header on target.

St Louis now had the momentum as they had a slight edge in this first period and they went on to score a well constructed team goal in the 19th minute as defender Jean-Paul Aglae robbed Côte D’Or right back Steve Esther of the ball to release Gerick Vidot who threaded a pass to Tamboo who did well to roll the ball into the path of Roddy Melanie whose superb low left foot shot found refuge in the Côte D’Or goal for a 2-1 score.

In the 32nd minute, Tamboo left the Côte D’Or defence in his wake as he headed for goal and Steve Esther appeared to clip his heels but he did not go down in the penalty but struggled to stay on his feet and rookie referee former The Lions winger Darrel Damou was hesitant to signal the infringement but would surely have awarded a penalty if Tamboo had gone to ground.

Côte D’Or nearly levelled the score in the 39th minute as they came back in the match as Gerald Basset floated a centre at the far post but Suzette missed a sitter from close range as he headed wide.

Côte D’Or rode their luck only three minutes in the second half of this match from a Tamboo free kick just outside the penalty area which struck the foot of the post with goalie Lesperance stranded and the ball rolled on the goal line to the other end before it was booted to safety.

In the 51st minute, Côte D’Or custodian played a poor ball straight at Waye-Hive who was going for goal but was fouled by substitute Marcus Rose but the former St Michel midfielder could not hit the target with the resulting free kick.

Côte D’Or then went on to dominate the remainder of this half and they were on level par in the 55th minute after St Louis wasted a free kick in their own half for a foul by Ryan Antat on Collin Bibi which earned him a booking and had to be calmed down by his coach Ralph Jean-Louis on the sideline.

St Louis tried to play the ball from the back but lost possession with Côte D’Or’s high press and Collin Esther, in his second spell with the Pralsin outfit, slipped a pass to Antat who got the better of Bertrand Esther to stab the ball past goalie Servina to make it 2-2 to redeem himself and his team.

The match almost got out of hand in the 65th minute after an off the ball incident involving Côte D’Or’s Malagasy defender Jimmy Radafison and Tamboo and it took some time before referee Damou put things under control and the match panned out to a 2-2 draw in the end which was a fair result for both sides and pleased both coaches.

“The tournament was helpful though it was played in a very short period with two matches in as many days but it was useful to raise our physical level as well as get the team’s balance right and correct our mistakes as we prepare for the African competition and I’m happy with our second half performance,” the Côte D’Or coach Ralph Jean-Louis told Sports NATION.

St Louis coach Nigel Freminot was also satisfied with his team’s showing in this second match after being heavily beaten on Thursday.

“It was a much better performance than on Thursday as we were more organised and it shows that we are on the right track as we keep building up our physical condition for the new season,” coach Freminot claimed.

However the trophy which was to be presented after the final match on Saturday did not take place and the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF) Secretary General Jemmy Adela told Sports NATION that Dynamo had requested that the cup be presented at a later date.

R.J-L