Football: First division league - St Louis sneak past Red Star Defence Forces |14 October 2017

First division league leaders St Louis sneaked past Red Star Defence Forces in a 1-0 victory on Thursday afternoon at Stad Linite in front of a decent crowd to maintain their lead at the top of the standings.

St Louis had to reshuffle their pack with their captain Bertrand Esther suspended with two yellow cards for this encounter and Jean-Paul Aglaé had to step in alongside captain-for-the-day Damien Maria as they aimed to keep the league’s top scorer, Malagasy Jocelyn Fenosoa at bay.

St Louis though had the first real chance in this end-to-end match and it fell to Karl Hall in the 4th minute from a Malagasy Tahiry lay off but he tried to side-foot the ball instead of going for power and it was charged down by the Red Star Defence Forces’ backline.

Red Star Defence Forces responded three minutes later with a free kick on the edge of the St Louis penalty area taken by Jocelyn which was deflected into corner and in the 11th minute, Malagasy Michel Nambintsoa called for a penalty as he went down in the penalty area from a Jude Nancy challenge but referee Egbert Havelock was not convinced.

In the 17th minute, Gervais Waye-Hive floated a corner to Tahiry at the near post and his hooked shot produced a fantastic save from goalkeeper Danny Larue to deny the league leaders an opening goal.

St Louis again went close just past the half hour mark as Tahiry exchanged passes with Hall who in turn released Elijah Tamboo but he failed to chip the ball over the advancing goalkeeper Larue who palmed away the ball.

A minute later, Red Star Defence Forces again rode their luck from a Waye-Hive corner which was met by Collin Bibi’s glancing header but Collin Francourt made a goal-line clearance to clear the danger.

Red Star Defence Forces then almost stole the lead in the 33rd minute from a counter as Jocelyn broke clear to centre to countryman Nemia who flicked the ball into the path of the unmarked Barry Marie but he could not hit the target for a 0-0 first half.

Red Star Defence Forces began the second period on a high and in the 47th minute Nambintsoa set up Francourt whose low shot was well dealt with by St Louis’s Malagasy goalkeeper Michel to push it into corner.

The intensity level rose in this half as both teams did not wish to come out second best and in the 65th minute, referee Egbert Havelock had to act as peacemaker to calm down hyped up players from both camps after Malagasy substitute Sydo had thrown the ball at a St Louis player.

A minute later, Hall fired a superb free kick which brought a top drawer save out of goalkeeper Larue who is fast proving to be one of the best shot stoppers in the top flight.

St Louis then made two substitutions in the 70th minute as they pulled off Bibi and Malagasy defender Herve and in came Nigerian forward Kazeem Adeyeri and Serge Asba but six minutes later, they were let off the hook as Jocelyn threaded a pass to Sydo who bore on goal but rifled wide when he should have hit the target.

St Louis went ahead in the 82nd minute after some neat build-up with Asba linking up with Hall who fed Adeyeri who managed to flick the ball past the outrushing goalkeeper Larue from a tight angle to make it 1-0 much to the joy of the St Louis fans.

Red Star Defence Forces threatened to hit back straight away as Sydo surged into the St Louis penalty box and went to the ground as they looked for a penalty for a foul but referee Havelock turned a blind eye much to the annoyance of the army team players and supporters.

The league leaders should have added a second in the 85th minute from goalkeeper Michel’s long goal-kick to Hall who headed it into the feet of Tamboo who was in a great scoring position but he somehow shot narrowly wide.

Malagasy Sydo had the last chance of this pulsating encounter to snatch a point for his team as he latched onto a loose ball and looked odds on to score but goalkeeper Michel stood tall to thwart him and lead his team St Louis to three crucial points as they improve their chances of winning the league title and this made coach Nigel Freminot really happy.

“I must give credit to my players who worked really hard and the substitutions we made also helped to give us this hard-fought win though I must praise our opponents for giving us a tough match,” the St Louis coach told Sports NATION.

Coach Freminot’s team’s next match is in the SFF Cup quarterfinal next Saturday against bitter rivals and SFF Cup holders St Michel.

As for Red Star Defence Forces manager Philip Barbé, he thought his team deserved at least a share of the spoils in this tight match.

“It was a closely fought match where we played well and had our chances but failed to convert and our opponents punished us late in the match due to a lapse in concentration though there are some offside decisions given against my team which were not so obvious,” claimed the army team’s manager whose side are one of the hardest teams to beat on current form and most opponents dread to face with their never say die attitude.

R. J-L.