Football: Third division league - Bel Air, Mont Fleuri in 2-2 draw |05 April 2018

Third division football action started on Monday with pool A winners of the league qualification Bel Air FC facing off against Mont Fleuri FC at Stad Popiler. This seemed a tight affair and after 90 minutes of play the match ended on a 2-2 draw.

The two evenly matched teams fought for the ball at every opportunity in a physical game during which six yellow cards were brandished by the referee.

Mont Fleuri FC had the first breakthrough in the 17th minute after striker Jude Commettant headed the ball over Bel Air FC goalkeeper in a one-on-one situation to make it 1-0.

Bel Air FC did not wait long to strike back when half way through the first half, striker Mervin Esther capitalised on the defenders’ mistake after they failed to clear the ball, and he placed it in the bottom left hand corner to level the game at 1-1.

The goal seemed to inject life into Bel Air FC’s game and Malagasy Bertio Ramanajatompo struck late in the first half with a powerful shot to give them a 2-1 advantage just before half-time.

The second half continued as players seemed to keep the aggressive mindset, Mont Fleuri FC goal scorer Commettant received a yellow card after a rough challenge and was later taken off.

Mont Fleuri FC upped their attack and won a penalty half-way through the second half after a hard tackle by a Bel Air defender. Midfielder Raphael Jacquelin, who was part of the Under-20 Seychelles national team for the match against Mozambique last Saturday, stepped up to take the penalty and he kept his composure to level the game once more.

The match went on with both teams trying to take a last minute lead, but the referee blew the final whistle with a final score at 2-2.

Speaking to Sports NATION, Bel Air FC coach Ralph Jean-Louis said: “For the first match, we are happy with a draw, even though we wanted a win. There were lots of mistakes and frankly I have doubts about the penalty, but we have to get ready for the next match next week. We’re looking forward to this year’s season and our objective is to win the third division and win promotion to the second division. We know it’s going to be hard, but that’s what we’re here to do”.

As for Mont Fleuri FC coach Philip Zialor, he described the result as “not too bad”.

He went on to say that the first match always seems to be a bit difficult and now the players will know what competitive football is like.

“For this season, we’re going to take it one step at a time. For each game we’ll see what we can improve on,” he stated.

Rodney Rose