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Football: Division one league - Red Star Defence Forces register first league win |08 April 2017

Last year’s second division league champions Red Star Defence Forces registered their first league win as they stunned St John Bosco 2-0 at Stad Linite on Thursday afternoon in a division one fixture.

The merged team fully deserved their maiden victory over an out-of-sorts Bosco who surprisingly last weekend had been impressive against league leaders St Michel as they held them to a share of the spoils.

Red Star Defence Forces should have opened the scoring in the second minute of this match from a poor back pass by Bosco’s Julio Brown which Jude Estico pounced upon and he reached the ball before the outrushing goalkeeper Duane Romain but his shot lacked the power to reach the empty goal as the danger was eventually cleared.

In the 7th minute, Barry Marie and Erol Bacco exchanged passes to slice open the Bosco defence and the deadly Bacco bore on goal but goalkeeper Romain was quick off his line to block his shot, injuring the striker in the process and he had to be replaced by his elder brother Francis Bacco.

Red Star Defence Forces continued to cause the Pointe Larue-based team problems and in the 15th minute, Estico played a high ball forward to Francis Bacco who got the better of goalkeeper Romain in the aerial duel but his header sailed agonisingly wide of a gaping goal.

The first division newcomers scored a good goal in the 19th minute from Lucas Allisop’s free kick which Francis Bacco headed home but surprisingly the goal was disallowed by the assistant referee Hansley Petrousse for a dubious offside decision.

But there was to be real drama seconds later as goalkeeper Romain took the free kick for the offside decision and played the ball to his defender Travis Quatre who strangely stopped the ball with his hand to replay the free kick but he was penalised for a handball which resulted in a penalty awarded by referee Kerens Yocette.

Francis Bacco was assigned the spot kick and he planted the ball past goalkeeper Romain to make it 1-0 for his team whose fans celebrated a deserved lead.

Bosco tried to raise their game but it was Red Star Defence Forces who went close again in the 39th minute as Bacco released Marie who was clean through but goalkeper Romain produced a good stop in a one-on-one situation to deny him.

Bosco had a decent chance to level the score on the stroke of half-time from Deroy Brutus’ through ball to Stephan Labrosse but in a good scoring position, he blazed over the crossbar as the first half ended in favour of the Army team.

Bosco improved slightly in the second period as they enjoyed more possession but fell further behind in the 64th minute from an inswinging free kick by Marcus Botsoie which was headed past goalkeeper Romain at the near post by defender Aubrey Farabeau to make it 2-0 to put the joint forces closer to their first league victory in the top flight.

There was a moment of controversy in the 71st minute when Bosco’s Malagasy midfielder Jules Rapiera tried to get past defender Farabeau and the ball appeared to hit the Red Star Defence Forces Farabeau’s arm and assistant referee Petrousse raised his flag despite being far from the action. But referee Yocette, who had a better view of the incident and did not notice the raised flag, allowed play to go on and strangely assistant Petrousse did not insist as he lowered his flag much to the annoyance of the Bosco fans who felt they were denied a penalty in a match where they had been second best and could have suffered an even bigger loss if their opponents had been more ruthless in the latter stages where they had three clear chances to increase the score. However, it was a well-earned win in the end which they celebrated and which was pleasing to their manager Philip Barbe when he spoke to Sports NATION.

“We had a good match overall especially in the first half where we created lots of scoring opportunities to win this encounter by a wider margin and we were always the better team in this match with our all-Seychellois team. Therefore this victory is an encouragement for my players who worked hard for it as we prepare for our next match,” the Red Star Defence Forces manager Barbe told Sports NATION.

As for the Bosco manager Andrew Bristol, he was disappointed with his team’s showing but also felt hard done by the officials.

“We were not at our best in this match and it appears my players were a bit over-confident after our good result against league leaders St Michel last week. But we are also disappointed with the officials once again as we are convinced we were denied a penalty when the assistant raised his flag to indicate but then lowered it, which is very strange and it is unacceptable such errors which affect our team,” the Bosco manager claimed.

 

R. J-L.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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