Football: Airtel Cup - St John Bosco gain slender lead over Anse Reunion |07 July 2017

Pointe Larue-based St John Bosco gained a slender lead over La Digue side Anse Reunion in a 2-1 score in the first leg of their Airtel Cup match up on Thursday afternoon at Stad Linite.

This year the 12 first division teams have been drawn to face each other in a two-legged match in the Airtel Cup instead of the two groups format adopted in the past couple of seasons.

The first match had pitted St John Bosco against Anse Reunion as the first division teams returned to action after a long break due to the National Day celebrations as well as the senior national team being involved in the Cosafa Castle Cup.

Anse Reunion drew first blood in this encounter as they took the lead in the 2nd minute from a teasing cross by the overlapping Adrian Constance which was headed home past goalkeeper Duane Romain by Yelvany Rose to make it 1-0.

The early goal helped this contest as it forced St John Bosco to try and redress the balance and in the 7th minute, Deroy Brutus broke clear on the right and his goal-bound shot was cleared by defender Elton Monnaie.

In the 16th minute, Anse Reunion’s Malagasy defender Tholix Jean brought down Ghanaian striker Emmanuel Ankrah on the edge of the penalty area and from the resulting free kick awarded by referee Emile Fred, Malagasy Jules Rapiera forced Anse Reunion goalkeeper and skipper Ian Ah-Kong to tip over into corner.

Ghanaian midfielder Jonas Baffoe floated the corner and there was St John Bosco’s central defender Travis Quatre with a glancing header in a crowded penalty area to head into the net to level the score at 1-1.

Quatre almost undid his good work seven minutes later when he lost the ball to Anse Reunion’s Tanzanian midfielder Rashid Mohamed who bore on goal but goalkeeper Romain made a great stop with his feet to save his teammate’s blushes in a one-on-one situation.

In the 28th minute, Anse Reunion gave away a soft penalty after a clumsy tackle by defender Don Franchette on Baffoe in the penalty area and referee Fred pointed to the spot.

Rapiera took responsibility of the spot kick and he stabbed the ball into the roof of the net despite goalkeeper Ah-Kong guessing the right way to bring the score at 2-1.

St John Bosco had a decent chance to extend their lead on the half hour mark as they broke on a counter led by Ankrah but he delayed a pass to Rapiera who was in the clear and thus fluffed a goal-scoring opportunity.

The La Digue outfit also had a good chance on the stroke of half-time as they spread the ball in the St John Bosco penalty area and when Monnaie drove the ball across goal it just took a slight deflection off Baffoe to deny Anse Reunion’s Mohamed a clear shot at an empty goal.

Anse Reunion began the second period as they had started the first and in the 49th minute, Norris Bibi sent an inch-perfect cross to Dieter Constance in the St John Bosco penalty area where their defenders hesitated but amazingly Constance, who had sneaked in at the back post, failed to tuck home.

In the 54th minute, Don Franchette lofted a free-kick into the St John Bosco penalty area and Malagasy Eddy rose highest to head the ball goal wards but it required a brilliant finger-tip save by the outrushing goalkeeper Romain to deflect the ball into corner.

Anse Reunion looked the hungrier side in this half as St John Bosco had to drop back to defend and in the 81st minute, the overlapping Adrian Constance released Mohamed who was fouled by Stephan Labrosse from behind in what looked to be an infringement in the penalty area but referee Fred signaled for a foul but placed the ball on the edge of the penalty area.

Mohamed picked himself up to curl the free kick narrowly wide of the near post with goalkeeper Romain rooted to the spot.

The Anse Reunion players were furious with referee Fred a minute later as he failed to penalise Rapiera for a lunging two-footed tackle on Jules Constance as he did not even award a foul which warranted at least a yellow card if not even a red.  

This resulted in a retaliatory tackle by Franchette on Baffoe seconds later and he was booked and the match threatened to get out of hand at this point as there was pushing and shoving but thankfully common sense reigned.

Anse Reunion should have drawn level in the 87th minute as Mohamed flicked the ball into the path of Yelvany Rose who should have latched onto it with a clear sight of goal but he decided to lay off to Eddy but his pass was too strong to waste a gilt edge opportunity.

In the 88th minute, Rapiera collected a loose ball in midfield and made space before unleashing a rasping shot from the edge of the penalty area which grazed the Anse Reunion crossbar but this half remained goalless as St John Bosco held the slight 2-1 advantage in this first leg with the second leg scheduled for next Saturday on La Digue.

St John Bosco assistant coach Patrick Cafrine was pleased with the win though he admitted his team can perform better.

“We started slowly and conceded and then had to come back in the match which we did early in this intense match where both teams were playing for a win, but we still need to improve in attack where we delay the ball too much instead of going forward. But I’m satisfied as at least we won,” coach Cafrine told Sports NATION.

As for Anse Reunion trainer Ted Esther, he was satisfied with his players’ determination and is confident they can overcome the score on La Digue.

“We have been out of competition for a while but we performed satisfactorily especially as we showed a lot of effort and we at least deserved a draw today which was our target in this match, but we feel we can win this tie at home,” Esther related to Sports NATION.

R. J-L.