Football: First division league - Red Star Defence Forces beat St Michel, Côte d’Or, Anse Reunion win |26 March 2018
Red Star Defence Forces defeated St Michel 2-1 in a top-of-the-table clash on Saturday while on Praslin, Côte d’Or overcame La Passe 4-2 and Anse Reunion beat The Lions 2-0. On Friday, Au Cap and Revengers shared out a goalless draw.
Red Star Defence Forces edge St Michel
Red Star Defence Forces came from behind to edge St Michel 2-1 at Stad Linite in a top-of-the-table clash in front of a very large crowd on a beautiful, sunny Saturday afternoon.
St Michel came out the stronger in the first half and in the 10th minute, Malagasy Evariste slipped a through ball to Graham Cafrine who rounded the advancing goalkeeper Jerome Dingwall but the ball rolled wide.
Evariste then shot agonisingly wide in the 21st minute from the edge of the penalty area from Neil Confiance’s pass before the same Evariste opened the scoring six minutes later with a low free kick from 35 metres out which goalkeeper Dingwall was at fault as he went down and the ball flew into the bottom corner to make it 1-0 much to the joy of the St Michel supporters.
Red Star Defence Forces should have drawn level two minutes later when Collin Francourt went sprawling in the St Michel penalty area from a mistimed tackle by Perry Bijoux and referee Bernard Camille pointed to the penalty spot.
Malagasy Jocelyn Fenosoa took responsibility but goalkeeper Alvin Michel pushed out the penalty kick and this is the second consecutive penalty miss by last season’s top scorer Jocelyn in two consecutive matches.
St Michel continued to threaten at the other end and in the 35th minute, captain Alex Nibourette sent in a high ball which Cafrine headed goalwards but goalkeeper Dingwall pushed the ball into corner.
Red Star Defence Forces though came more dangerous in the latter stages of this half and on the stroke of half time, goalkeeper Michel produced a flying save to deny Francourt as St Michel held on to their 1-0 lead at half time.
Red Star Forces came out for the second period with all guns blazing and restored parity in the 46th minute from a quickly taken free kick by Malagasy Michel Nambintsoa to Jocelyn which caught the St Michel defence napping and Jocelyn held off the challenge of Yannick Manou to unleash a rasping near post shot past goalkeeper Michel to make it 1-1 as he made amends for his penalty miss and the army team’s supporters rejoiced in the stands.
Jocelyn nearly scored a carbon copy goal in the 57th minute from another quickly played set piece by Nambintsoa as he eluded Perry Bijoux, who had a poor game and his fierce shot was kept out by goalkeeper Michel.
St Michel responded in the 62nd minute from captain Nibourette’s cross after a good build-up and the ball sailed over the Red Star Defence Forces backline and dropped invitingly to Neil Confiance but his volley was tipped over the crossbar by goalkeeper Dingwall.
St Michel should have restored their advantage in the 75th minute from substitute Leroy Corallie’s glorious through ball with his first touch behind the Red Star Defence Forces defence and it fell at the feet of their new striker, Francis Rafaralahy who looked odds on to score but his left foot shot produced a great one-handed block by goalkeeper Dingwall to keep him at bay.
In the 83rd minute, Julio Brown sent in a teasing cross which caused a mêlée in the army team’s defence when goalkeeper Dingwall dropped the ball under pressure from Francis and it fell to substitute, Malagasy Ludovigue but he could not direct the loose ball into the net.
The pendulum then swung into Red Star Defence Forces’ favour in this enthralling match and in the first minute of added time, St Michel’s Nigel Hoareau conceded a cheap free kick outside the penalty area.
Jocelyn lined the ball as the crowd expected something from this deadly marksman who had tormented his former teammates all afternoon and his well worked free kick came off the crossbar with goalkeeper Michel rooted to the spot.
There was to be another twist in this match in the 3rd minute of the five minutes of added time when St Michel lost the ball in their opponents’ half and Nambintsoa went on a mazy run as Bijoux tried to keep pace with him and his attempted tackle did not stop the former Revengers midfielder who raced clear and squeezed his near post shot past goalkeeper Michel to make it 2-1 as the roof was raised at Stad Linite as the Red Star Defence Forces fans celebrated in the stands as their team inflicted a first defeat on St Michel which leaves them as the only team with a 100% record in the league after three matches. This result delighted their manager Philip Barbé when he spoke to Sports NATION after the match.
“It was a very interesting match where we did not start well in the first half but we controlled the second period and it was nice to win to maintain our good record this season to help us open a gap at the top with all the points,” the Red Star Defence Forces manager told Sports NATION.
For his part, St Michel manager Andrew Jean-Louis said his team’s complacency in defence proved costly in a balanced match which could have gone either way.
“We played well in the first half where we created numerous scoring opportunities but we got caught off guard as our defence was complacent for our opponents’ equaliser but we still could have won the match but it did not happen in this well-balanced and fascinating match and we will have to go back and prepare for our next match against another tough opponents St Louis,” the St Michel manager related to Sports NATION.
Côte d’Or beat La Passe
Praslin outfit Côte d’Or defeated their bogey team La Passe 4-2 at Stad Amitié on Saturday, inspired by a hat-trick by Malagasy Voavy Faralahibe.
This match between two great rivals saw three players receive red cards from referee Emile Fred after Voavy had opened the scoring in the 36th minute but La Passe’s Malagasy Rhino levelled the score at 1-1 in the 43rd minute with a free kick for a 1-1 score at the interval.
Voavy’s brother Kassah re-established Côte d’Or’s lead in the 46th minute to make it 2-1 before his teammate Oliver Bonte and La Passe’s Perry Monnaie were sent off in the 55th minute for exchanging blows as both teams were reduced to 10 men.
Voavy made it 3-1 in the 76th minute but Rhino bagged his brace from the penalty spot in the 78h minute for a 2-3 score in Côte d’Or’s favour.
But a minute later, La Passe were reduced to nine players when substitute Lorenzo Nibourette was expulsed with a straight red for using obscene language.
Voavy completed his hat-trick in the 86th minute to give coach James Barra his second win this season.
Anse Reunion bounce back against The Lions
La Digue side Anse Reunion bounced back from their heavy loss the previous week to overcome The Lions 2-0 at the La Digue playing field on Saturday afternoon.
Randy Emile and Yelvanny Rose scored for coach Elsie Ernesta’s team for her first win this season while it was coach Marc Mathiot’s third defeat in as many matches in the league as they lie at the bottom of the standings.
Au Cap claim first point
Newly promoted Au Cap claimed their first point in the first division with a 0-0 draw against Praslin side Revengers at Stad Linite on Friday afternoon.
It was another drawn match in two days at our national stadium in a match where both teams showed lot of willingness but the lack of quality made this encounter end in a stalemate.
Revengers though went closest on the hour mark after a good build-up from Cliff Cesar to release substitute Ivan Cedras whose fierce shot clipped the crossbar of the Au Cap goal.
Au Cap also should have gone ahead with two good chances firstly in the 63rd minute from Ghanaian Jonas Baffoe’s free kick which goalkeeper Wilfred Aly spilled and Ghanaian forward Emmanuel Armah pounced on the loose ball but the Revengers defence cleared the danger.
In the 70th minute, Revengers’ Malagasy Herod Stephan failed to clear the ball which fell to Au Cap’s Sean Romain but he shot across the face of goal for a scoreless match and Au Cap coach Roger Labonté was pleased with the point.
“We are satisfied with our first point as we are slowly showing progress as the players begin to gel together,” the Au Cap coach said.
Revengers coach Basil Hoareau though was unhappy with his strike force as they were too complacent in their approach in this encounter.
“We had decent chances to claim all the points in this match but my players did not perform to the expected level as we played poorly and we have to be content with a point though we could easily have won this match,” the Revengers coach told Sports NATION.
R. J-L.
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Published: 26-03-2018