Football: Division one league |15 May 2017

St Louis sink St Michel, Côte d’Or, Revengers win

St Louis defeated rivals St Michel 2-1 in a first division league match at Stad Linite on Saturday while on Praslin, Revengers edged St John Bosco 2-1 whereas on La Digue, La Passe drew 1-1 with Anse Reunion and on Friday, Côte d’Or thrashed Northern Dynamo 4-1 at Stad Linite.

St Louis shatter St Michel’s unbeaten run

League leaders St Louis shattered St Michel’s unbeaten run in local competition this season with a narrow 2-1 win in this top-of-the-table clash on Saturday which drew quite a large crowd to witness this saintly battle between the only two unbeaten teams so far this season.

St Louis made the brighter start in the first half and Malagasy Tahiry latched onto a loose ball as early as the second minute but shot just wide.

In the 11th minute, Gervais Waye-Hive, facing his former team for the first time, floated a free-kick to Collin Bibi who headed straight at goalkeeper Alvin Michel.

St Louis’ slight dominance paid dividends just past the half hour mark from Jude Nancy’s through ball to Waye-Hive who beat the offside trap and fired a rasping left foot shot past goalkeeper Michel to make it 1-0 for his new team much to the delight of his supporters.

The goal revived St Michel and in the 37th minute, Malagasy Jocelyn latched onto a long ball to rifle at St Louis’ Malagasy goalkeeper Michel who parried the ball away.

On the stroke of half-time, St Michel’s Malagasy defender Nassure Beanjara played a cross-field pass to Jocelyn who was in the clear but he miscued his shot to go in at the interval 1-0 down.

In the second half, St Michel brought on Trevor Poiret against his old team in place of the ineffective Daniel Maillet who is in his second spell with the Anse aux Pins-based team after leaving Northern Dynamo during this season.

St Michel almost levelled matters in the 53rd minute from Jocelyn’s free kick which crashed against the crossbar.

St Louis though should have added a second in the 57th minute when a loose ball broke nicely to Waye-Hive but he allowed goalkeeper Michel to block his shot when he had the chance to plant it into the net.

Controversy loomed large in the 67th minute as goalkeeper Michel played the ball to Nelson Laurence who appeared to be bundled over by Elijah Tamboo for what looked like a clear foul but as everyone in the stadium awaited the referee’s whistle, it never came and the St Louis striker accepted the windfall to race on goal and thump the ball past goalkeeper Michel to make it 2-0 as St Michel protested and St Louis celebrated.

In fact, Sports NATION queried the official about this controversial moment after the match and he was adamant that Laurence got entangled in his own legs and was dispossessed legally by Tamboo, which was surprising as this is not what most of those present in the stadium saw happen as it looked more like an infringement on the St Michel defender.

This incident infuriated St Michel as they urged their side to try and redress the two-goal deficit and they reduced the arrears in the 81st minute from Ghanaian Emmanuel Nuhey’s lofted cross to Jocelyn whose effort hit the foot of the post and rolled over the goal-line past a stranded St Louis goalminder Michel for a 1-2 scoreline.

St Louis though held on to put one over their bitter rivals and maintain their top spot in the league standing while St Michel drop into third position behind reigning league champions Côte d’Or who host St Louis this Saturday in another top-of-the-table clash.

St Louis manager Davis Khan was just pleased his team had overcome this stern test to remain unbeaten.

“It was vital not to lose this match and I am happy we managed to beat one of our biggest rivals. We played well in the first half and though we were under pressure in the second period, we did well to win,” the St Louis manager said.

As for the St Michel manager Andrew Jean-Louis, he felt his team were hard done by the official for their opponents’ second goal which he is convinced should not have stood.

“I am disappointed with the official as our opponents’ second goal was a clear foul on our defender and it was a clear mistake by the referee. We did not make a good start though but then we dominated the second half but had a mountain to climb at 2-0 down but there were a lot of positives in our performance today despite the loss,” the St Michel manager told Sports NATION.

Anse Reunion grab last-gasp equaliser against La Passe

Ten-man Anse Reunion grabbed a last-gasp equaliser against their bitter rivals La Passe to deny them a victory at the L’Union playing field on Saturday in a 1-1 draw.

Malagasy Florent gave struggling La Passe a 1-0 lead in the first half and late in the second period, Anse Reunion’s Elton Monnaie was given his marching orders by referee Bernard Camille for collecting two yellow cards. La Passe’s Perry Monnaie was also shown a straight red card in the same incident.

However, there was to be more drama in the dying seconds as Malagasy Hugo Sezou scored an equaliser for a 1-1 final score in this La Digue derby.

Revengers edge St John Bosco

Revengers edged St John Bosco 2-1 at Stad Amitié on Praslin to move off the foot of the table and leapfrog into 10th position on the log.

Ivan Cedras gave coach Basil Hoareau’s team a 1-0 lead at the break but St John Bosco drew on level par through Ghanaian midfielder Jonas Baffoe’s free kick to make it 1-1.

Last season’s league top scorer, Malagasy Evariste bagged the winner for Revengers with a free kick of his own for a 2-1 result.

Côte d’Or bounce back in style

Defending league champions Praslin’s Côte d’Or bounced back in style as they brushed aside Northern Dynamo 4-1 at Stad Linite on Friday afternoon in heavy downpour.

Côte d’Or faced a big test of their mettle in this match after losing their unbeaten run the previous weekend to Anse Reunion whereas two key players, namely Collin Esther and Ryan Antat, were missing. They survived an early scare in the 17th minute when Aldo Dufresne combined with Wesley Esther whose shot on the turn grazed the foot of goalkeeper Jean-Paul Lesperance’s post.

Côte d’Or then took the game by the scruff of its neck and they won a penalty in the 28th minute when Gerald Basset got the better of defender Marcus Cedras and his cross was handled by Darren Gonzalves as he slipped when trying to clear the danger to give away a penalty awarded by referee Jean-Claude Labrosse.

Malagasy Jean Tigana took responsibility of the spot kick and he coolly slotted the ball past goalkeeper Frank Moutoni to make it 1-0.

Dynamo had yet recovered when they fell further behind four minutes later from a sweet move initiated by Yuri Bibi who released Dine Suzette who flashed his cross across the face of goal to Basset who intelligently flicked the ball into the path of Nigerian midfielder Peter Adeshina who stabbed it into the net to open his Côte d’Or account for a 2-0 lead at half-time.

Dynamo cut the deficit in the 53rd minute from a good build-up and Dufresne picked out Wesley Esther with a brilliant pass and the latter smashed the ball past goalkeeper Lesperance for a 1-2 score.

Côte d’Or though re-established their two-goal cushion in the 65th minute as Tigana headed a high ball to Suzette who spotted goalkeeper Moutoni way off his line and he floated the ball over him for a superb goal for a 3-1 lead.

The persistent rain did not deter the enthusiasm of the Praslin outfit and they put the icing on the cake in the 93rd minute as the hardworking Yuri Bibi released Suzette who raced clear to stab the ball past goalkeeper Moutoni for a convincing 4-1 triumph to put them back on track in the league race. Coach Ralph Jean-Louis really appreciated the win and said:

“It was important to put in a good display and the players responded well to this challenge and played extremely well and scored at the appropriate time to win this match comfortably and deservedly.”

As for Northern Dynamo trainer Cliff Nolin, he was very disappointed with his team’s attitude in this match where he felt they lacked the hunger and fighting spirit.

“Our performance was not good enough as we did not play with the necessary determination and we lacked the hunger and it looks like we had an off day,” reflected coach Nolin whose team return to action tomorrow against The Lions.

R. J-L.