Follow us on:

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube

Archive -Football

Football: Airtel Cup - Jocelyn double cancels out Côte d’Or |20 July 2018

 

 

Red Star Defence Forces’ Malagasy striker Jocelyn Fenosoa grabbed a brace to cancel out league leaders Côte d’Or in an interesting 2-2 draw at Stad Linite in a group A Airtel Cup match on Wednesday afternoon.

It was Jocelyn’s second double in two matches after he netted twice against La Passe in this group of death but the former St Michel forward was at the centre of controversy in the final moments of this match with his late tackle on Côte d’Or’s Jones Joubert which provoked a mêlée especially as referee Bernard Camille failed to punish him despite his assistant Gilbert Lusta flagging but he decided to blow for the final whistle which really infuriated the Côte d’Or players causing a commotion on the pitch as the two sets of players squared up against each other.

The situation almost got worse as some fans who should never have been in this vicinity joined the argument which was very unacceptable and hopefully the federation will investigate the matter to sanction those who got involved in this commotion.

As for the match, Côte d’Or despite missing their talisman Malagasy Voavy Faralahibe, the league’s top scorer, through injury, were the better side as they battled to make it to the quarterfinal in this pool and they showed their intention as early as the 10th minute when Collin Esther, who commanded this match, floated a corner to Malagasy defender Zenith but he could not direct a free header on target.

In the 24th minute, Jones Joubert sent in a long free kick in the Red Star Defence Forces’ penalty area where captain Travis Quatre and goalkeeper Jerome Dingwall got in each other’s way to leave the ball to Nigerian Peter Adeshina but he miscued his shot.

Côte d’Or should have made their domination pay in the 37th minute when Esther released Oliver Bonte, who had a good game, and he sent in a brilliant cross to Malagasy Kassah Voavy who looked odds on to score but he fired against the post to let their opponent off the hook.

Côte d’Or were made to rue their miss a minute later as defender Quatre played the ball forward to Leroy Corallie who flicked the ball into the path of Jocelyn who produced a rasping shot which crashed into the net to make it 1-0 for his team at half time.

Côte d’Or continued to probe in the second period and in the 47th minute, Bonte worked wonders to set up Kassah whose shot off balance flew narrowly wide.

Four minutes later, the impressive Esther surged forward to link up with Kassah whose fierce shot was pushed out by goalkeeper Dingwall and Adeshina picked up the loose ball to feed Esther whose shot was charged down by a defender.

In the 56th minute, Esther drove a free kick into the Red Star Defence Forces penalty area which was half cleared to captain Benoit Marie but he could not keep his shot on target from the penalty edge.

Côte d’Or got a lucky break from their effort on the hour mark when Joubert marauded down the left and his cross-cum shot got a slight deflection off defender Andrew Onezia to sail over goalie Dingwall to make it 1-1.

Côte d’Or were awarded a justified penalty in the 64th minute when Red Star Defence Forces defender Malagasy Nemia tripped Kassah whose was positioning himself to collect Bonte’s cross and referee Camille pointed to the spot.

Adshina took the spot kick and he easily rolled it past goalkeeper Dingwall for a 2-1 score though some of the Red Star Defence Forces players were complaining to the official about the stop-start style penalty of Adeshsina which they felt was illegitimate but the goal stood.

Red Star Defence Forces – who were without former Côte d’Or midfielder, Malagasy Jean Tigana who was suspended, as well as Michel Souris who was missing while Warren Mellie was on the bench – drew level four minutes later when Onezia threaded a pass to Jocelyn who showed great skills to turn two defenders and rifle the ball into the far corner past goalie Neddy Lesperance who was rooted to his goalline for a 2-2 score to complete his brace.

Côte d’Or though kept pressing for a third and in the 71st minute, Adeshina curled in a beautiful free kick from the left which forced goalkeeper Dingwall to produce a nice save to tip over the dipping shot.

The Praslin outfit should have scored in the 85th minute from a well worked move involving Kassah who combined with Bonte whose inch perfect cross fell to substitute Norris Bibi who amazingly missed a gaping goal from a few metres out when it looked easier to score.

This left the two teams sharing the points in a match which had provided much entertainment to the decent crowd but concluded in a tempestuous manner.

However the two team officials that spoke to Sports NATION after the match focused on the match, overlooking this regrettable incident at the final whistle.

“We dominated this match and created a lot of scoring chances and we deserved to win but we are happy with our performance and we are confident of qualifying in this group though we have another tough match on La Digue on Saturday against La Passe,” the Côte s’Or coach James Barra told Sports NATION.

As for the Red Star Defence Forces manager Philip Barbe, he felt his team’s performance was affected by the reshuffling of the squad.

“We had to re-shuffle our starting lineup due to injury and suspension to our key players but we made a good start as we were in front at the interval but we are satisfied with the result and hope to give a better performance in our coming matches,” he related to Sports NATION.

 

R. J-L.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

» Back to Archive