Football: Division one league - Côte d’Or demolish St Michel, St Louis return to winning ways |29 May 2017

Defending league champions Côte d’Or handed St Michel their worst defeat in local competitions with a 4-1 victory at the Stad Amitié on Saturday while on Mahé, second-placed St Louis returned to winning ways with a 3-0 win over Foresters at Stad Linite and on Friday, LightStars climbed into third position with a 1-0 win over Northern Dynamo.

Côte d’Or demolish St Michel

League leaders Côte d’Or got off to a perfect start when they were gifted a dubious penalty for an alleged foul by St Michel skipper Alex Nibourette on Gerald Basset and referee Bernard Camille awarded a controversial penalty which was coolly dispatched by Malagasy Jean Tigana for a 1-0 advantage at half-time.

Dine Suzette increased his team’s lead in the second period for a 2-0 score but St Michel’s Nelson Laurence reduced the arrears to 1-2 though Côte d’Or re-established their two-goal cushion as Tigana and Collin Esther exchanged passes in a two against one situation after Suzette and St Michel’s Malagasy defender Nassure Beanjara were entangled on the floor in an off-the-ball incident to give Tigana the chance to grab his brace and make it 3-1.

As St Michel pushed forward to retrieve the match, they got caught with a fourth goal through substitute Dave Brioche to put the icing on the cake for a 4-1 victory for the reigning league champions to help them stay at the top of the league standings to please their club president Robert Payet.

“This is an incredible result which speaks volume about our performance today where we dominated our opponents who could not get going and it is a very good result for us,” the Côte d’Or president said.

As for St Michel manager Andrew Jean-Louis, he was highly critical of referee Bernard Camille whom he felt handed their opponents too many advantages in this match which caused his team’s downfall.

“I feel the referee spoilt the game entirely from the opening goal where he awarded a poor penalty for what he deemed a foul by our captain on Gerald Basset when the decision should have gone our way and Suzette’s second goal was offside. As for our opponents’ third goal, there was clear foul on our defender Nassure by Suzette which was not whistled to leave us short with only Yannick Manou against two attackers and then we had to gamble opting for three defenders as we chased the game but we got caught for the fourth goal. But still we are not disappointed with our performance as it is the officials who decided our fate in this encounter,” revealed the St Michel manager.

St Louis sweep aside Foresters

St Louis started strongly and went close to breaking the deadlock in the 4th minute from Gervais Waye-Hive’s cross to Malagasy Tahiry who fed Elijah Tamboo whose goal-bound shot was charged down by Foresters’ Malagasy defender Leonard Besabotsy who threw himself in front of the shot to deny a goal.

St Louis were in control but nearly conceded in the 24th minute from a long free kick by Besabotsy which bounced awkwardly in front of goalkeeper Michel who had to tip over into corner. From the resulting corner floated by Martin William, Vanerick Michel saw his shot come off the crossbar as St Louis rode their luck.

St Louis took the lead on the half hour mark very controversially. It began with a throw-in by Jude Nancy to Tamboo who turned into Besabotsy and went sprawling to the ground and referee Kerens Yocette surprisingly pointed to the spot for a penalty which was really a poor decision as no one in the stand felt it was so and Foresters made their feelings known to the official.

Tahiry kept his cool as tension rose on the pitch to send goalkeeper Elvis Leopold the wrong way to make it 1-0 at half-time as the tackles went flying and the official had to issue a couple of yellow cards to calm down the players.

The second half saw more goalmouth actions and in the 50th minute, Tahiry’s cross-cum-shot had to be pushed over the crossbar by goalkeeper Leopold as it threatened to dip into the net.

Two minutes later, Foresters had a half-hearted appeal for a penalty of their own turned down from Williams’ deep cross to Ghanaian Samuel Kwesi whose shot was blocked by Tahiry.

St Louis though had the edge in this match and in the 54th minute, Damien Maria let fly a rasping low shot from 30 metres out which goalkeeper Leopold had to dive low to parry into corner after Waye-Hive’s free kick ricocheted off the Foresters wall and had rolled invitingly to him.

St Louis stretched their lead on the hour mark when goalkeepeer Leopold’s poor punched clearance fell to the lurking Tamboo who threaded the ball to Waye-Hive in a crowded penalty area and he kept his composure before planting the ball into the net for a 2-0 scoreline.

In the 81st minute, St Louis added a third goal after Marlon Sophola flung out a hand to stop substitute Gerick Vidot from lobbing him and the official awarded a penalty for handball. 

Tahiry once again took responsibility of the spot kick but goalkeeper Leopold blocked his shot though Tamboo pounced on the rebound to smash home the loose ball to make it 3-0 the final result which helps St Louis to stay second on 23 points, a single point behind league leaders Côte d’Or.

St Louis coach Nigel Freminot, who was under pressure after his team were thrashed by Côte d’Or in their previous match on Praslin, was just relieved they had shown true character to return to winning ways.

“It was important for us to bounce back and this is a good victory which helps us to close the gap at the top though we also rested some of our players,” the St Louis coach told Sports NATION.

As for Foresters coach Rodney Choisy, who has recently been appointed national team head coach, he was very unhappy with the penalty decision which swung the tide in their opponents’ favour in his view.

“I am very disappointed with the referee for awarding a penalty which was not the right decision and the goal affected us as we had to alter our playing strategy but we never recovered,” coach Choisy claimed.

LightStars edge Northern Dynamo

Praslin side LightStars edged Northern Dynamo 1-0 at Stad Amitié on Friday as two other matches scheduled to be played on La Digue over the weekend were postponed as a sign of respect for the dearly departed footballer Gael Savy who was laid to rest on Friday.

After a goalless first half and the match heading for a share of the points, LightStars grabbed all the points with a late winner from a ball which deflected off Northern Dynamo defender Warren Mellie for an own goal to make it 1-0 the final score to help propel LightStars to third on the log.

R. J-L.