Football: Division one league - St Louis, La Passe win |02 October 2017

● Anse Reunion held by St John Bosco

League leaders St Louis returned to winning ways with a 2-0 victory over Foresters at Stad Linite on Saturday while on Praslin, La Passe fought back to triumph 4-2 against LightStars triumph and Anse Reunion drew 2-2 on La Digue against St John Bosco.

Foresters gift St Louis victory

St Louis were desperate to put the disappointment of losing the Airtel Cup final behind them and open a seven-point lead at the top of the division one league standings as their closest rivals and defending league champions Côte d’Or’s match with Red Star Defence Forces on Friday was controversially postponed.

St Louis dropped Nigerian striker Kazeem Adeyeri and Elijah Tamboo for this match and in came Karl Hall back from suspension and Roddy Melanie.

However, St Louis never looked the part in the first half as they struggled to find a rhythm to their play while Foresters also made life difficult for them with a high pressing game and allowing them little time on the ball.

Therefore, goal-scoring opportunities in the first half were at a premium and in fact it was Foresters who had the first chance in the 11th minute from Brandon Labrosse’s free kick which Vanerick Michel could not direct on target.

St Louis also had only one decent chance in the first half and it came in the 26th minute from a Gervais Waye-Hive free kick but Hall could not trouble goalkeeper and captain for the day Elvis Leopold with his header as the first half ended goalless much to the frustration of the St Louis supporters.

St Louis made two substitutions early in the second half with Tamboo and Collin Bibi replacing Melanie and Travis Laurence to try and find a breakthrough.

In the 52nd minute, St Louis were denied a clear penalty after some intense pressure and Foresters’ Labrosse’s raised foot hit Bibi in the face but referee Jean-Claude Labrosse failed to blow his whistle

St Louis though broke the deadlock a minute later from a long ball which Foresters defender, Malagasy Edgard Nandresena seemed to have it covered as his goalkeeper Leopold was coming to collect it but Tamboo nicked in between them to steer the ball into an empty net for a 1-0 lead as the two Foresters players were left embarrassed.

Foresters tried to respond in the 55th minute as Labrosse set up Nick Labiche but he fired wide from the edge of the penalty area.

On the hour mark, St Louis put together a string of passes and Malagasy defender Hervé swung in a cross to Tamboo at the near post but he headed wide.

St Louis got the ball into the net in the 63rd minute. Goalie Leopold spilled Tamboo’s free kick from the edge of the penalty area and Waye-Hive tucked home but he was strangely flagged offside by assistant referee Gerald Pool.

Two minutes later, St Louis were gifted a second goal as their attack broke down and the ball dropped to Malagasy defender Leonard Besabotsy who inexplicably got caught in two minds and instead of allowing his goalkeeper, who was coming out to retrieve the ball, he headed it backwards and amazingly it rolled into the net for an own goal as he tried desperately to correct his mistake by attempting to clear the ball before it crossed the goal line but failed to do so to make it 2-0.

The league leaders should have added a third in the 71st minute from a superb through ball by Herve to Malagasy Tahiry who bore on goal but he could not chip the ball over goalkeeper Leopold who had rushed out to clear the danger.

Foresters had a gilt -edge opportunity to cut the deficit in the 86th minute from a quickly taken free kick by substitute Martin William to another substitute Nelson Etienne but he shot straight at Malagasy goalkeeper Michel as St Louis secured a much-needed morale-boosting win to open up a seven-point lead at the top of the league table with five matches remaining and coach Nigel Freminot was a relieved man with this win.

“It was very important to return to winning ways after last week’s disappointment though the players were not into the match in the first half as they were still bothered by our cup final defeat. But I must praise them as they improved in the second half and the substitutions helped to raise our performance,” the St Louis coach told Sports NATION.

As for Foresters’ coach Rodney Choisy, he was unhappy with the goals his team gifted their opponents.

“We managed to contain our opponents in the first half as our tactical plan worked well to cut out the supply to their danger man Karl Hall but then we gave away two soft goals due to a lack of concentration which is disappointing,” the Foresters coach said as his team suffered their eighth league loss and lie ninth on the log.

La Passe fight back to beat LightStars

 La Digue-based La Passe had to fight back from a two-goal deficit at half-time to beat LightStars 4-2 at Stad Amitié on Saturday to climb into fourth position on the league table.

Malagasy Mario Ravo gave the Praslin team a 1-0 lead and Renick Esther made it 2-0 at the interval.

La Passe though battled their way back as Perry Monnaie reduced the arrears at 1-2 and Malagasy Florent levelled matters at 2-2.

Malagasy Rhino gave La Passe the lead midway in the second period at 3-2 and Florent netted his brace to wrap all the points in a hard fought 4-2 victory which helps his team to leapfrog both LightStars and Northern Dynamo into fourth place ‒ a point behind St Michel.

St John Bosco draw against Anse Reunion

St John Bosco’s Ghanaian midfielder Jonas Baffoe bagged a brace to help his team claim a share of the spoils in a 2-2 draw on La Digue against Anse Reunion on Saturday.

Tanzanian Rashid Mohamed Gumbo continued in his rich scoring vein as he opened the scoring for the La Digue side for a 1-0 lead but Baffoe leveled matters at 1-1 before the break.

Anse Reunion regained their advantage through Ugandan Mohamed Bayerno for a 2-1 score.

Baffoe though salvaged a point for his bottom of the league team through a penalty awarded by referee Alix Bonne for a 2-2 final score.

Red Star Defence Forces and Côte d’Or match postponed

The Red Star Defence Forces versus defending league champions Côte d’Or match scheduled for Friday was controversially postponed by the Seychelles Football Federation.

The federation has been at loggerheads with the Praslin side since the incidents during the SFF Cup match between Côte D’Or and La Passe which was forfeited.

An independent committee was supposed to investigate this incident but it appears that the disciplinary committee decided to issue sanctions against three Côte d’Or players and two of their senior officials without giving them a chance to a hearing.

This resulted in an outcry from the Côte d’Or management which threatened to pull out of the league entirely or play under protest but then the federation backtracked on their decision to suspend anyone but rather let the independent committee take up this case as all the other clubs monitor this situation closely as the federation seemed to be losing face in the manner they have handled this case in the absence of chairman Elvis Chetty who only returned to the country over the weekend.

R. J-L.