Football: Division one league - Red Star, St Michel and St Louis win |07 May 2018
The top four teams in the first division league ‒ Red Star Defence Forces, St Michel, St Louis and Côte d’Or ‒ all registered wins during the weekend to maintain their positions in the standings.
League leaders Red Star Defence Forces defeated LightStars 2-1 at Stad Amitié on Saturday while on La Digue, champions St Louis saw off La Passe on a 3-1 score. On Friday at Stad Linite, St Michel beat Northern Dynamo 3-1 and on the same day at Stad Amitié, title chasing Côte d’Or recovered from going a goal down to overcome neighbours Revengers 3-1.
Red Star Defence Forces leave it late against LightStars
League leaders Red Star Defence Forces had to battle hard to earn all the points at Stad Amitié on Praslin after the first half ended goalless.
Malagasy Jocelyn Fenosoa gave the army team the lead at 1-0 but LightStars’ Malagasy striker Paul Bruyelle levelled matters at 1-1 in a match which was heading for a draw. But Jocelyn had other ideas as he scored late in the match after he latched onto his free kick which had come off the LightStars wall to fire home his second goal of the game to keep his team at the top of the league with 20 points from six wins and two draws in eight matches.
Champions St Louis see off La Passe
Champions St Louis kept pace with the leading pack with a hard fought 3-1 victory over La Passe on La Digue on Saturday to remain in third place on the log with 18 points as they stay unbeaten.
St Louis opened the scoring through their Nigerian striker Kazeem Adeyeri in the first half but two minutes later, their former player, Achille Henriette, equalised for La Passe with a free kick for a 1-1 score at half-time.
St Louis wrapped up all three points with two goals in the dying minutes. Malagasy Tahiry made it 2-1 and Gervais Waye-Hive added a third goal for a 3-1 final score.
Anse Reunion stun Au Cap
La Digue outfit Anse Reunion stunned Au Cap in a 4-2 triumph at Stad Linite on Saturday.
Au Cap were in buoyant mood after their first win in the top flight last week over bottom club The Lions.
They threatened to break the deadlock in the opening minute when Ghanaian Emmanuel Armah set up Jemmy Volcy whose fierce low shot forced Anse Reunion goalkeeper Rehad Payet to dive at full length to avert a goal.
Anse Reunion took the lead in the 4th minute following a quick break. Randy Emile centred to Stenio Ernesta who headed across goal to Dieter Constance who blasted the ball past goalkeeper Gerard Tirant from close range for a 1-0 lead.
Anse Reunion were always a threat on the counter and in the 13th minute, captain Yelvanny Rose knocked down a long goal kick into the path of Randy Emile who burst through but his shot was parried by goalkeeper Tirant.
Both Dieter Constance and Stenio Ernesta had clear chances to extend their team’s advantage from flick-ons by captain Rose against a flat-footed Au Cap defence but they failed to convert until the 41st minute.
With half-time looming and the Au Cap defence struggling to cope with the pace of Emile and Stenio Ernesta, the two combined again with Stenio Ernesta threading a pass to Emile whose shot was deflected past goalkeeper Tirant to make it 2-0.
Anse Reunion netted a third goal on the stroke of half-time from another counter as Tanzanian Rashid Mohamed picked out Randy Emile’s run and he teed up Stenio Ernesta who rammed the ball home for a 3-0 lead at the break.
Au Cap made a double substitution at resumption of the second half as they sent on Sean Romain and Marcus Louise in place of Oliver Camille and Alberto Louis and it soon paid dividends when Romain floated the ball in the box to Louise in the 51st minute and he headed past goalkeeper Payet for a 1-3 score and gave his team hope.
Anse Reunion though should have restored their three-goal cushion in the 62nd minute from Mohamed’s free kick to the unmarked captain Rose in the penalty area but he directed his header narrowly wide.
In the 66th minute, Au Cap created a decent chance to score as Armah linked up with Romain to release Chris Uranie but he shot in the side-netting.
Anse Reunion killed off the contest in the 75th minute from a long goal kick to Randy Emile on the half-way line and he left all the defenders in his wake and he kept his composure to rifle the ball into the bottom corner for a 4-1 scoreline.
Au Cap bagged a second goal in added time after a mêlée in the Anse Reunion penalty area and Armah pounced on the loose ball to shoot into the net for a 4-2 result.
Anse Reunion skipper Yelvanny Rose told Sports NATION they were desperate to win this match to improve their points tally.
“We had lost our previous two matches and so we had prepared well for this match to stop from us losing three matches on the trot and we played well and deserved to win today,” captain Rose said.
As for Au Cap coach Roger Labonté, he was unhappy with his players’ performance in this match.
“We were over-confident after our win last week and we did not perform as we had hoped for though we were also missing some players through injury,” coach Labonté related to Sports NATION.
St Michel down Northern Dynamo
St Michel maintained their recent good form with a comfortable 3-1 triumph over struggling Northern Dynamo at Stad Linite on Friday evening.
Anse Aux Pins-based St Michel had the better of the first period where they enjoyed plenty of possession but had to wait until the half hour mark to open the scoring through Malagasy Evariste’s strong shot from the edge of the penalty area to beat goalkeeper Ricky Pool for a 1-0 lead at half-time.
St Michel stretched their lead in the 51st minute after Randolph Elizabeth had tormented his former teammates to pick out Malagasy Francis Rafaralahy who slotted the ball past goalkeeper Pool for a 2-0 score.
Northern Dynamo though cut the deficit two minutes later after Gambian forward Musa Njie held off the challenge of defender Yannick Manou to cross to Marcus Maria who drilled the ball into an empty net for a 1-2 scoreline.
In the 53rd minute, Maria was allowed to run through when he was clearly offside as assistant referee Janick Gabriel failed to raise his flag but luckily for St Michel, Manou put in a last ditch tackle to deny Northern Dynamo an equaliser.
St Michel though weathered the storm to create more chances such as in the 76th minute when Evariste fired at goalkeeper Frank Moutoni who had come in for the inured goalkeeper Pool minutes earlier and he did well to parry the ball to safety.
In the 79th minute, Evariste linked up with Leeroy Corallie and his fierce shot looked goal-bound but it came off the foot of the post.
Three minutes later though St Michel killed off the tie when captain, Malagasy Hassan Aly slipped a beautiful pass into the path of Corallie who finished off smartly with a low shot into the bottom corner for a 3-1 score.
Corallie was just unlucky to cap a brilliant afternoon for him with a second goal in the 86th minute as he combined with substitute Neil Confiance but his lob came off the crossbar with goalkeeper Moutoni well beaten but St Michel had done enough to claim all the points and maintain their position among the leading pack.
St Michel manager Andrew Jean-Louis was happy with the result which keeps his team in second position on the log with 18 points.
“We enjoyed plenty of possession in the first half and should have scored more goals but then we gifted our opponents a silly goal though we recovered to win comfortably to collect three important points,” the St Michel manager told Sports NATION.
As for Northern Dynamo coach Cliff Nolin, he felt his players’ lapse in concentration cost them dearly in this match.
“We made too many individual mistakes which proved costly against such an experienced opponent though we had deployed a good tactic to counter them,” reflected coach Nolin whose team have now lost their last six matches on the trot.
Côte d’Or overcome Revengers
Title chasing Côte d’Or recovered from going a goal down to overcome neighbours Revengers 3-1 at Stad Amitié on Friday afternoon on Praslin.
Revengers striker Ivan Cedras had given his team the lead at 1-0 but Malagasy Kassah Voavy leveled the score at 1-1 at half-time.
Côte d’Or went ahead from a Dine Suzette cross which deflected off defender Herod for a 2-1 advantage and Malagasy Voavy Faralahibe secured all the points for coach James Barra’s team with a late goal for a 3-1 result.
The first division league table after last weekend’s matches
TEAMS P W D L GF GA PTS
Red Star Defence Forces 8 6 2 0 21 9 20
St Michel 8 6 0 2 22 10 18
St Louis 8 5 3 0 16 4 18
Côte d’Or 7 5 1 1 19 9 16
LightStars 7 3 2 2 8 7 11
La Passe 7 3 3 3 15 15 10
Foresters 8 2 4 2 10 6 10
Anse Reunion 8 3 1 4 12 15 10
Revengers 7 1 2 4 5 12 5
Au Cap 8 1 2 5 7 17 5
Northern Dynamo 7 1 0 6 5 18 3
The Lions 9 0 2 7 4 22 2
R. J-L.