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Football: Division one league - Côte d’Or, St Louis maintain title challenge |24 July 2017

Defending league champions and current league leaders Côte d’Or defeated St John Bosco 4-2 on Saturday at Stad Amitié, while on Mahé, St Louis kept pace with a hard-earned 2-0 victory over Northern Dynamo.

 

St Louis labour to victory over Northern Dynamo

Second-placed St Louis laboured to a 2-0 victory over Northern Dynamo on Saturday afternoon at Stad Linite to maintain their title challenge.

St Louis gave a long-awaited debut to Karl Hall and this former St Michel player did not take long to leave his mark with his new team as he opened his account as early as the 9th minute though in controversial manner.

It all started when assistant referee Hensley Petrousse flagged for an alleged handball by Northern Dynamo defender Kevin Estico as he battled for the ball with St Louis’ Nigerian attacker Kazeem Adeyeri.

Referee Kerens Yocette did not see the incident and it took a while before he noticed the raised flag and awarded the free kick in St Louis’ favour much to the disappointment of the Northern Dynamo bench.

Gervais Waye-Hive took responsibility of the set piece and he floated the ball at the far post to his best pal Hall who guided it into the net to make it 1-0 though he was unable to celebrate his opener as he got injured and had to receive treatment.

St Louis went close again in the 15th minute as Adeyeri played a cross field pass to Waye-Hive which was intercepted by defender Marcus Cedras with a header which hung in the air and as the ball dropped Waye-Hive fired at goalkeeper Frank Moutoni instinctively but it went narrowly wide.

Northern Dynamo then seized control of the match and in the 24th minute they were denied a great opportunity on a counter-attack as Aldo Dufresne released Randolph Elizabeth with St Louis caught flatfooted at the back and Jude Nancy struggling to catch up with Elizabeth. But surprisingly assistant referee Sadjee Padayachy flagged for a non-existent offside to let St Louis off the hook as Elizabeth looked odd on to score.

St Louis, despite not playing at their best, had a decent chance in the 28th minute to increase their lead from an Adeyeri free kick which Hall feigned at the near post confusing Dynamo’s goalkeeper Moutoni who missed the ball but Elijah Tamboo failed to connect at the far post as he was too slow to react.

Northern Dynamo had two gilt-edge chances to draw level in this first half. Firstly in the 32nd minute when St Louis’ central defender Jean-Paul Aglaé, who struggled throughout the match in this position, gave the ball away to Gambian forward Musa Njie but he shot across goal.

On the stroke of half-time, Northern Dynamo right back Darren Gonzalves played a superb ball over the top of St Louis’ defence to Aldo Dufresne but he blazed wide when he just had to lob goalkeeper Michel to keep the score at 1-0 at the break.

Hall did not return for the second period with a leg injury and in came Gerick Vidot but it was Northern Dynamo who were the better side and should have levelled the score in the 47th minute from a Njie through ball to Dufresne who was in a good scoring position but he made a meal with his shot.

Northern Dynamo enjoyed plenty of the ball as St Louis were happy to defend and frustrate them  with coach Cliff Nolin’s team having only one decent opportunity to score again which came in the 78th minute from a brilliant volley by substitute Marcus Maria but St Louis goalkeepeer Michel was equal to the task.

After soaking a lot of pressure, St Louis delivered a killer blow with a glorious passing move which began with Malagasy Tahiry who played the ball down the line to Vidot who got the better of Cedras to link up with Adeyeri.

The Nigerian striker showed good skill to turn two defenders and then picked out Travis Laurence’s late surge in the box and Laurence did well to control the ball and finish with aplomb as he tucked the ball past goalkeeper Moutoni to seal a 2-0 victory for his team.

St Louis coach Nigel Freminot admitted after the match that it had not been a vintage performance but added that victory was vital.

“We did not play to the best of our ability but the important thing is we won and scored when the opportunities presented themselves and this is what matters at this stage,” claimed the St Louis coach to Sports NATION.

As for Northern Dynamo coach Cliff Nolin, he was unhappy with the officials whose mistakes swung this tie to their opponents’ advantage.

“It was a very tactical match which was quite interesting and we created good scoring chances but did not make the most of them, but also some officiating decisions did not help our cause,” stated Northern Dynamo coach Nolin.

 

Côte d’Or march on against St John Bosco

2016 league champions Côte d’Or marched on in their quest to defend their league crown as they brushed off the challenge of St John Bosco 4-2 at Stad Amitié on Saturday.

This was a high scoring first half with league leaders Côte d’Or giving a league debut to former Ethiopian club St George striker Godwin Chika Okwara and the Nigerian scored twice in this half while another newcomer, Malagasy forward Voavy Faralahibe, netted once to give their team a 3-2 lead.

St John Bosco had twice fought back to level the score firstly through Daniel Lucas and then Deroy Brutus, but the reigning league champions scored a fourth goal in the second period as Voavy also bagged his brace to keep their team on top of the league table.

 

The Lions stun Anse Reunion

The Lions stunned Anse Reunion 1-0 at the L’Union playing field on La Digue on Saturday to move to joint third with St Michel on the league log and it was Malagasy Lanto who scored the only goal of the match in the 7th minute.

 

Foresters and LightStars share the spoils

Mont Fleuri-based Foresters and Praslin outfit LightStars shared the spoils in a 0-0 draw at Stad Linite on Friday afternoon.

LightStars had the first scoring opportunity in the 8th minute from a through ball to striker Renick Esther but he failed to trouble goalkeeper Randolph Bijoux.

Foresters went even closer in the 13th minute after a superb burst of speed by Ryan Henriette to leave defender Sergio Barra in his wake and he set up Ghanaian Samuel Kwesi who incredibly fired wide with the goal at his mercy.

In the 40th minute, LightStars’ Sergio Barra rifled a free kick at goalkeeper Bijoux who spilled the ball to Albert Rose who saw his close range effort come off the post and drop into the inviting arms of Bijoux.

On the stroke of half-time, Henriette brushed aside the challenge of Sergio Barra who went down on his backside but he went for glory when he should have squared to two of his unmarked teammates for a goalless first half.

The second half was less eventful with Foresters skipper, Malagasy Edgard Nandresina, wasting a free header on the hour mark from Henriette’s inswinging corner.

The last chance to break this stalemate arrived in the closing seconds of this match from a free kick by Malagasy Jacquelin Tovosoa whose  curling low shot on the edge of the penalty area was turned into corner from a decent save by goalkeeper Bijoux as the two teams shared the points.

 

La Passe win away against Revengers

La Passe registered a morale boosting 2-1 victory over Praslin side Revengers at Stad Amitié on Friday afternoon.

Malagasy Fredo scored from the penalty spot after referee Alistair Barra had penalised a Revengers defender for handball as the players of coach Bruno Saindini went 1-0 up.

Revengers defender Shelton Arrisol levelled matters at 1-1 before half-time but Revengers were again at the mercy of the official as he awarded a second penalty which Fredo netted for his brace and help his team to a 2-1 triumph and leave Revengers in a precarious position on the league table just above the dreaded drop zone.

 

R. J-L.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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