Football - Pointe Larue Bazar Brothers third division champions |19 October 2017

Pointe Larue Bazar Brothers were crowned third division league champions on Tuesday evening after they defeated Veteran MBU 5-1 in their penultimate league match at Stad Linite.

Pointe Larue Bazar Brothers were neck-and-neck with Plaisance for this league title as they entered the final round of matches though they were guaranteed the crown with victory in their final match while second placed Plaisance relied on a win against the Under-17 selection as well as the Pointe Larue-based team losing.

However, the Plaisance v Under-17 match was called off by the Seychelles Football Federation claiming force majeure as the schools, where most of the players come from in the Under-17 squad, had been ordered to close down due to the plague alert on the advice of the Ministry of Health as a precautionary measure though Plaisance were unhappy with this decision as they felt they had not been consulted and they still turned up for the match at Stad Popiler scheduled to kick off at the same time.

As for the match, Veteran MBU gave the young Pointe Larue Bazar Brothers team a decent match with their experience but their opponents’ speed caused those old legs problems and it was such in the 7th minute when defender Robert Edmond was faced with two strikers and Jean Claude Berlouis managed to head the ball to Robert Joubert who slotted the ball home for a 1-0 lead.

James Albert should have done better for the Veteran MBU team in the 12th minute but he shot over in a good scoring position.

In the 24th minute, Berlouis, the team’s top scorer with 11 goals in the league, sprung Veteran MBU’s offside trap to bore on goal but could not beat goalkeeper Benjamin as he lost his footing.

In the 28th minute, former Red Star defender Edmond forced a good save out of goalkeeper Liam Melanie from Nestor Benahovy’s free kick.

The Pointe Larue-based squad went further ahead in the 40th minute when goalkeeper Benjamin fumbled Elmar Felix’s shot which rolled over the goal-line to make it 2-0 at half-time.

The players of coach Peter Laporte scored three quick fire goals in the opening 10 minutes of the second half to make their victory quite comfortable.

In the 49th minute, Denis Naiken slipped a pass to Ryan Labrosse who rifled a low shot at the far post via the post to make it 3-0.

Two minutes later, Steven Félicie picked out Berlouis with his pinpoint cross and his half hit volley still found refuge in the net for his 12th league goal and for a 4-0 scoreline.

Joubert grabbed his brace in the 55th minute when he pressured goalkeeper Benjamin and stole him of the ball to shoot into an empty net for a 5-0 lead.

The 22-year-old former Foresters player Berlouis was unlucky not to add to his goals’ tally in the 63rd minute when he latched onto a loose ball to let fly a cracking shot but it came off the crossbar.

Veterans MBU netted a consolation goal but it was the best one of the evening and it was a Benahovy’s specialty with his trademark long range free kick which hit the underside of the crossbar before crossing the line for a 1-5 score.

Pointe Larue Bazar Brothers gave a cameo appearance to their manager Joel Vidot in the latter stages as they had done enough to claim the league crown and there was wild celebration by the players and fans as they celebrated the league title and SFF chairman Elvis Chetty was there on the pitch side after the match to congratulate the team on their title-winning season.

The Pointe Larue-based team’s coach Laporte praised the players for their determination and perseverance which had made this triumph possible.

“The players were determined to win the league title in our first season of existence and they worked really hard and were highly motivated throughout the season and I must praise them as well as our fans and the police academy for making their facilities available to help us for training,” coach Laporte told Sports NATION.

Sports NATION would like to seize this occasion to congratulate the Pointe Larue Bazar Brothers team on winning the third division league crown.

R. J-L.