Football: First division league - St Louis beat Côte d’Or, 10-man La Passe stun St Michel |21 August 2017
St Louis edged division one league champions Côte d’Or 1-0 at Stad Linite on Saturday in this top-of-the-table clash to leapfrog them and take pole position in the league standings.
On Friday, 10-man La Passe stunned St Michel 4-2 and Anse Reunion piled the pressure on Revengers with a narrow 1-0, while on Saturday Praslin side LightStars tamed 10-man The Lions with a crushing 4-0 home triumph.
St Louis beat Côte d’Or
This eagerly awaited encounter which attracted a large crowd was an opportunity for St Louis to show their championship pedigree and more so to avenge their heavy defeat to Côte d’Or in the first round.
Côte d’Or though should have taken the lead in the opening minute from Malagasy Voavy Faralahibe’s wonderful pass to the unmarked Gerald Basset whose control let him down with only goalkeeper Michel to beat.
St Louis then tightened up at the back with a high line offside trap marshalled by captain Bertrand Esther to nullify the threat of their opponents’ speedy striker namely Voavy.
St Louis had a chance of their own in the 12th minute when Nigerian Kazeem Adeyeri went on a slalom run from midfield past a couple of defenders before he released Elijah Tamboo but instead of playing the ball in the penalty area to two of his teammates, he went for glory but shot wide.
St Louis broke the deadlock midway in this half from a quickly taken throw-in by Jude Nancy to Karl Hall who hooked the ball over the Côte d’Or defence to Adeyeri and Tamboo as they appeared to be in an offside position but the flag of assistant referee Elderick Adelaide stayed down allowing Adeyeri to loft the ball over goalkeeper Neddy Lesperance to make it 1-0 as the St Louis fans celebrated but the league champions players appealed in vain for offside to the officials.
Côte d’Or had a glorious chance to draw level in the 25th minute from an inswinging free kick by Malagasy Jean Tigana to Voavy at the near post but he miscued a free header.
In the 38th minute, Jude Nancy collected a loose ball from a Côte d’Or corner to surge forward and he played a superb ball to the overlapping Hall who nodded the ball past defender Marcus François but he shot straight at goalkeeper Lesperance as they held on to their advantage at half-time.
Côte d’Or brought on Oliver Bonté in the second half at right back with François moving to the left and captain Jones Joubert pushed into midfield to man mark St Louis’s danger man Hall who had returned from an ankle injury for this six-pointer clash.
Côte d’Or were gifted an opportunity to level the score in the 49th minute when captain Esther played a back pass to goalkeeper Michel who tried to dribble past striker Voavy who robbed him of the ball and fired at an empty goal but the ball came off the crossbar as St Louis rode their luck.
Côte d’Or carried the game to their opponents in an attempt to redress the balance in this match with St Louis closing the game to snuff out any danger.
In the 63rd minute, Travis Laurence released Malagasy Tahiry who looked yards offside which was not signaled and he centred to Hall whose looping header ended on the roof of the Côte d’Or goal.
Côte d’Or then brought on their twin tower strikers in the shape of Ryan Antat and Nigerian Godwin Chika but it was St Louis who nearly added a second goal in the 84th minute from a ball over the top of the Côte d’Or defence by Laurence to Hall but he could not beat goalkeeper Lesperance whose outstretched leg reached the ball.
St Louis though closed out the match to sink their closest rivals in this two-horse title race to climb to the top of the league with 35 points ‒ two above the defending champions and the result really pleased coach Nigel Freminot.
“It was crucial for my team to win this match and the players were aware of what was expected of them though we expected a tough encounter but my team did well to win and I must give them all the credit for this big win,” the St Louis coach told Sport NATION.
As for Côte d’Or coach Nicolas Simouri, he thought his team were just unlucky in this match but added that their title challenge is still on.
“My players gave a good account of themselves and I must thank our supporters who came down for this match as we tried our best but ran out of luck though we are still in the title race despite this loss,” coach Simouri said.
Ten-man La Passe stun St Michel
Ten-man La Passe stunned St Michel in a 4-2 victory in an incident-packed match on Friday at Stad Linite.
St Michel were without some of their key players namely Yannick Manou and Hassan Aly so they had to reshuffle their defence with Basil Bertin partnering Allen Larue who was back from a four-match suspension.
La Passe looked the better side in the opening exchanges with Malagasy Fredo and Florent always looking dangerous as they threatened to break the stalemate.
St Michel suffered a blow in the 17th minute when Joel Barbé came out worse off in a challenge with Perry Monnaie as he was caught with a flying elbow and had to be carried to the hospital and he was replaced by Derrick Pillay.
St Michel fell behind in the 29th minute when Allen Larue handled the ball inside the penalty area but referee Nelson Emile blew for the infringement but placed the ball on the edge of the penalty area. Fredo unleashed an unstoppable shot which crashed into the roof of the net to make it 1-0.
This match threatened to get out of hand in the 40th minute when referee Emile issued two yellow cards in quick succession to Senky Vidot for what he deemed as dissent to send off the La Passe player. This decision did not go down well with the La Passe players who charged on the official who had to be protected by his two assistants and some team officials before the match could resume with La Passe maintaining their lead at half-time.
St Michel raised their approach play with the entrance of Trevor Poiret for Leeroy Mathiot and in the 57th minute, Malagasy Benjamin Razakatiana released the former St Louis winger and he smashed the ball home to equalise at 1-1.
St Michel took the lead on the hour mark from another teasing cross by substitute Derick Pillay but Razakatiana’s initial shot was fumbled by goalkeeper Dave Mussard and he got a second bite of the cherry to stab home from close range to make it 2-1.
St Michel goalkeeper Alvin Michel then made a bad error as he dropped an easy catch from Malagasy Rhino’s free kick and there was Chris Fanchette to punish him to level the score at 2-2.
In the 83rd minute, substitute Achille Henriette played a quick free kick to Florent who looked marginally offside which was not signaled and he slipped the ball past goalkeeper Alvin Michel to make it 3-2.
La Passe completed a remarkable turnaround in the 88th minute when their defence cleared the ball forward and Florent latched onto the ball when he looked suspiciously offside but went unnoticed and he buried his shot into the net for a 4-2 final score.
The La Passe coach Bruno Saindini was full of praise for his players for overcoming their opponents despite being a man short.
“I am most grateful to the players who gave their all despite our man shortage and we have been showing improvement in our last two matches and we hope to continue to improve our league position,” coach Saindini told Sports NATION.
As for St Michel manager Andrew Jean-Louis, he felt his team’s arms dropped when they gave away the second goal and he has more or less conceded their chances of winning the league title.
“We were definitely in a strong position when we led 2-1 but a goalkeeping error cost us dearly and affected the players’ confidence though I also feel the third goal we conceded was clearly offside. We are now almost out of the league race so we will focus on the remaining cup competition,” claimed the St Michel manager.
LightStars tame 10-man The Lions
Praslin side LightStars tamed 10-man The Lions with a crushing 4-0 triumph on Saturday at Stad Amitié.
LightStars opened the floodgates in the 18th minute courtesy of a strike by Malagasy Mario Ravo and Marlon Ernesta doubled the score in the 36th minute for a 2-0 lead at the interval.
The Lions had midfielder Rashim Padayachy sent off with a straight red card for retaliation in the 53rd minute by referee Emile Fred and LightStars made their one player advantage count to score two more goals.
In the 73rd minute, Malagasy Paul Bruyelle made it 3-0 and Marlon Dugasse sealed an emphatic win for the players of coach James Barra with a fourth goal for a 4-0 scoreline.
Anse Reunion beat Revengers
La Digue outfit Anse Reunion piled the pressure on Revengers with a narrow 1-0 win on Friday evening at Stad Amitié.
Dieter Constance scored the only goal of this match in the first period for a 1-0 morale-boosting win for the players of coach Ted Esther.
R. J-L