Football: SFF League - Foresters, Revengers, Anse Reunion, Côte d’Or, La Passe win |16 October 2017
Foresters defeated St John Bosco 4-1 at Stad Linite on Saturday while on Praslin, strugglers Revengers stunned St Michel 4-2 and on La Digue Anse Reunion overcame LightStars 2-0. On Friday, defending league champions Côte d’Or beat Northern Dynamo 4-2 while La Passe edged The Lions 2-1 at Stad Linite.
Ten-man Foresters compound St John Bosco’s misery
Ten-man Foresters boosted their league points with a solid 4-1 victory over bottom club St John Bosco at Stad Linite on Saturday to almost condemn their opponents to relegation to the second division next season.
St John Bosco began brightly in this match where they were let down by poor defending and in the 15th minute, Ghanaian Jonas Baffoe should have done better from a poor throw out by Foresters’ goalkeeper Elvis Leopold but his attempted lob flew wide.
Six minutes later, his countryman Emmanuel Ankrah pounced on a defensive mistake to outspeed the Foresters defence but his low shot was saved by goalkeeper Leopold.
Foresters then took control of the match and in the 29th minute Ryan Henriette latched onto Tanzanian Hussein Bakari’s through ball but St John Bosco goalkeeper Duane Romain blocked his shot.
A minute later, Foresters broke the deadlock from Nick Labiche’s cross which goalkeeper Romain failed to hold on to and Laurence Leon hooked the loose ball into the net for a 1-0 lead.
Foresters increased their advantage in the 40th minute after Marlon Sophola and Henriette played some neat one-two to carve open St John Bosco’s defence, allowing Sophola to stab a low shot into the far corner to make it 2-0.
St John Bosco though reduced the deficit two minutes later from a mistake by Foresters skipper Malagasy Edgard who lost the ball from a throw-in and Ankrah stole the ball to head for goal as he left a couple of defenders in his wake before rifling an unstoppable shot which went in via the crossbar for a 1-2 score at half-time.
St John Bosco brought on Keddy Moustache and Yves Zialor to bolster their cause for a fight-back and in the 46th minute Baffoe rode a couple of tackles to shoot at goalkeeper Leopold on the edge of the penalty area but he pushed out the ball into corner.
Foresters’ Henriette wasted a great chance in the 49th minute as he raced clear in a three-on-one situation but he got entangled with the ball and fluffed a good opportunity.
The Mont Fleuri-based team were then reduced to 10 men in the 56th minute when Brandon Labrosse received his second yellow card from referee Kerens Yocette for a high tackle after being booked in the first half for dangerous play.
On the hour mark, St John Bosco should have levelled the score after Baffoe skipped past Leon to flash a teasing cross to Thierry Camille but he hit the post from a metre out when he should have hit the target.
Foresters went further ahead in the 67th minute as substitute Francis Nourrice wiggled his way to the St John Bosco goal but was pulled down by Terry Lesperance for a free kick on the edge of the penalty area.
Nourrice stepped up to unleash a cracking shot which crashed into the roof of the net past goalkeeper Romain for a 3-1 score.
The players of coach Rodney Choisy added a fourth in the 73rd minute after some brilliant dribbling skill by Henriette before rolling the ball to Labiche who fired a rasping shot into the net to make it 4-1 and he was overjoyed with his goal and raced all the way to his bench to savour this moment with his dad Marcel Labiche who is the assistant coach of Foresters.
Coach Choisy was pleased with his team’s performance especially in the second period as they collected three vital points.
“We were desperate to collect all three points in this match and we had a good second half though we had a man shortage,” explained coach Choisy.
Revengers turn the table on St Michel
Praslin side Revengers turned the table on St Michel with a hard fought 4-2 triumph at Stad Amitié on Saturday.
Revengers were in need of the points to bolster their points tally and league position and they opened the scoring through Ivan Cedras in the 17th minute for a 1-0 lead.
St Michel’s Malagasy striker Benjamin Razakatiana equalised a minute later and Andy Mougal put his team in the lead at 2-1 in the 41st minute.
Revengers though fought back to level the score at 2-2 on the stroke of half-time courtesy of a strike by Malagasy Ludovigue.
The players of coach Basil Hoareau, who lost 1-5 at home to St Michel in the SFF Cup, then struck twice in the second half firstly in the 61st minute courtesy of Malagasy Evariste to make it 3-2 and the same Evariste added a fourth goal in the 81st minute to seal a 4-2 victory as well as avenge their cup loss to this same opponents.
Coach Hoareau was a relieved man after this match as he was keen to win this encounter to move off the lowly position.
“The victory is a big lift for my team and we came out to attack our opponents and could have scored more goals but I’m pleased with the performance,” claimed the Revengers coach.
Anse Reunion overcome LightStars
La Digue outfit Anse Reunion overcame LightStars 2-0 at the L’Union playing field on Saturday afternoon.
Tanzanian Rashid Mohammed opened the scoring for the players of coach Ted Esther for a 1-0 lead at half-time.
Warren Bibi made sure of all three points for Anse Reunion with a goal after the interval for a 2-0 win.
Côte d’Or bounce back
Reigning league champions Côte d’Or bounced back from all their troubles to make a statement of intent with a solid 4-2 win over Airtel Cup winners Northern Dynamo at Stad Amitié on Friday afternoon.
This match was played behind closed doors as part of sanctions imposed on Côte d’Or football club by the Seychelles Football Federation for crowd trouble during their last match three weeks ago against La Passe in the SFF Cup.
Since this ill-fated incident, Côte d’Or have not been in action as they tried to fight their case and are still doing so after receiving a R50,000 fine when they appealed the sanctions set by the disciplinary committee.
As for the match, the players made a great start as they broke the deadlock with only 45 seconds on the clock when Malagasy Voavy struck to make it 1-0.
Malagasy Jean Tigana added a second goal in the 15th minute and in the 27th minute, he stretched his team’s advantage to 3-0 as he netted his brace.
Northern Dynamo fought their way back with a goal by Malagasy Rajamana in the 43rd minute for a 3-1 score at half-time.
Aldo Dufresne cut the deficit further in the 72nd minute for Northern Dynamo as he made it 2-3 but Côte d’Or secured the much-needed victory with a goal in the 88th minute courtesy of Nigerian forward Godwin Okwara for a 4-2 final result to maintain the defending league champions’ challenge in the league race as they lie seven points behind leaders St Louis with a game in hand.
La Passe avenge The Lions’ loss
La Digue outfit La Passe avenged their loss to The Lions last weekend by overcoming these same opponents 2-1 at Stad Linite on Friday afternoon in a league match.
The Lions had knocked out La Passe in the SFF Cup on home soil and this time round, La Passe had a point to prove and should have opened the scoring in the opening minute but Achille Henriette saw his shot blocked by goalie Raphael Moustache and Malagasy Fredo cold not tuck home the loose ball.
La Passe went ahead in the 4th minute from Perry Monnaie’s cross-cum-shot which wrong-footed goalkeeper Moustache to make it 1-0.
The players of coach Bruno Saindini extended their lead in the 10th minute as Malagasy Florent released Henriette whose raking cross was stabbed home by Monnaie for his brace and a 2-0 lead.
Dennis Auguste should have reduced the arrears in the 21st minute when he beat La Passe’s offside trap but he could not lob goalkeeper Dave Mussard.
Monnaie should have bagged his hat-trick three minutes later as he latched onto Malagasy Rhino’s through ball but goalkeeper Moustache was quick of his line to thwart the danger and the ball fell nicely to Rhino who could not hit the empty goal.
The Lions coach Gavin Jeanne was unhappy with referee Bernard Camille who denied them a clear penalty in 29th minute as La Passe defender Senky Vidot brought down Liberian striker Mohamed Varney as they batted for the ball but the official was unimpressed with Varney’s tumble.
The Lions won a penalty in the 42nd minute signaled by assistant referee James Emile as goalkeeper Mussard missed a cross but then shoved Malagasy Lanto in the back to give away a soft penalty.
Lanto dusted himself off to rifle the ball under the crossbar and over the line to make it 2-1 at half time and this was also the final score with no more goals in the second period.
R. J-L.