Football: Airtel Cup - St Louis, La Passe, LightStars victorious |23 July 2018

Defending league and cup winners St Louis scraped past Anse Reunion on a 1-0 score at Stad Linite on Saturday while on La Digue La Passe defeated Côte d’Or 1-0. On Praslin, LightStars thrashed visitors Northern Dynamo 4-1.

St Louis scrape past Anse Reunion

St Louis needed only a draw to qualify for the quarterfinals in this pool B match at Stad Linite on Saturday afternoon, but they did better and earned a 1-0 win.

St Louis, as expected, were the more offensive team as they probed for an opening early in this match and in the 14th minute, Nigerian Kazeem Adeyeri linked up with Malagasy Tahiry who rifled at Anse Reunion goalkeeper Jean-Paul Ah-Kong who turned the ball into corner.

Five minutes later, Gervais Waye-Hive created space on the right to centre to Gerick Vidot who volleyed across the face of the Anse Reunion goal.

Anse Reunion should have stunned St Louis in the 25th minute from a pinpoint cross by Lorenzo Nibourette to pick out Stenio Ernesta but he missed a clear chance to put the cats among the pigeons.

St Louis though kept pushing forward and in the 42nd minute, Adeyeri played a neat one-two with Elijah Tamboo was who slightly offside which was not signaled, but he hooked the ball over the crossbar for a goalless first half.

St Louis tried to show more urgency in the second half but were on numerous occasions left frustrated with referee Egbert Havelock who was very disappointing.

As for the match, Adeyeri showed his skill in the 50th minute as he glided past Don Fanchette but his shot was way off target.

Vidot also had a gilt-edge opportunity in the 62nd minute from Waye-Hive’s filtered pass to him but he failed to lob the ball into the net after his initial shot was blocked by goalkeeper Ah-Kong.

In the 64th minute, St Louis put a string of passes together to tee up Melanie whose strong shot was spilled by goalkeeper Ah-Kong and Waye-Hive collected the loose ball but the Anse Reunion defenders managed to deal with the threat.

St Louis had a great chance to break the deadlock in the 72nd minute from a fantastic floated pass by Tamboo into the path of Waye-Hive with goalkeper Ah-Kong in no man’s land but the former St Michel midfielder headed wide with the goal begging.

Five minutes later, Melanie curled a teasing free kick at the near post which almost crept in if not for a last ditch save by a vigilant goalkeeper Ah-Kong.

As the minutes ticked away, St Louis pulled off a defender to play with only three at the back but almost got caught in the 84th minute when Stenio Ernesta released substitute Randy Emile.

Randy Emile bore on goal and looked odds on to score but St Louis custodian, Malagasy Michel produced a brilliant stop with his outstretched leg to keep the score goalless.

St Louis then got a breakthrough deep in injury time from a free kick. Melanie lofted the ball into a crowded penalty where Tamboo rose majestically to head into the roof of the net to make it 1-0.

Sadly one of the St Louis supporters threw a bottle close to his team’s bench which shattered and surely such behaviour cannot be tolerated.

The three points ensured St Louis become the first team to qualify for the quarterfinals of the Airtel Cup and their manager Davis Khan told Sports NATION that they want to maintain their winning streak in this group in their final match against St Michel on Wednesday.

“We were the better team but our opponents put in a strong resistance and we were just lucky to get a goal very late in this match. So now, we will try to win our final game as we will not do any favours to any opponent,” claimed the St Louis manager.

As for Anse Reunion coach Basil Hoareau, he was quite disappointed his team had not managed to hold their opponents to a draw.

“We are extremely disappointed as we had worked hard to handle our opponents who had the edge in this match. But a slack in our defence in the dying second cost us all the points,” coach Hoareau related to Sports NATION.

LightStars thrash Northern Dynamo

Reigning Airtel Cup winners Northern Dynamo suffered their second thrashing at the hands of LightStars as they went down 4-1 at Stad Amitié on Saturday.

LightStars went ahead in the first period through Malagasy Paul Bruyelle and Renick Esther made it 2-0 at the break.

Praslin side LightStars extended their advantage in the second half as Malagasy Mario Ravo got on the score sheet for a 3-0 lead but Marcus Maria scored for Northern Dynamo for a 1-3 score to reduce the deficit.

Renick Esther re-established his team’s three-goal cushion as he grabbed his second goal of the match for a final 4-1 scoreline and put his team top of their group with seven points.

La Passe edge Côte d’Or

La Digue side La Passe edged league leaders Côte d’Or 1-0 on La Digue on Saturday in a pool A match.

The victory propels La Passe to five points as they lead this group before their final match on Mahé against Red Star Defence Forces.

Malagasy Rhino scored the all-important goal late in the second period to ensure his team all three points in a 1-0 triumph for the players of coach Bruno Saindini.

Foresters and The Lions share the spoils

Group C leaders Foresters could only manage a 1-1 draw against struggling The Lions at Stad Linite on Friday afternoon.

Foresters were heading for another victory after taking the lead in the 31st minute from a shot by Vanerick Michel past goalkeeper Randolph Bijoux for a 1-0 advantage at half-time.

Ugandan striker Tony Kizito should have increased his team’s lead on the hour mark after combining with Richard Servina but his cutback was wasted by Francis Nourrice.

In the 78th minute, Foresters’ Kizito and Brandon Labrosse exchanged passes to shoot at goalkeeper Bijoux who held the ball at the second attempt.

The Lions though got a lucky break with virtually the last kick of the match when goalkeeper Kitson Cecile, who had replaced the injured Elvis Leopold a couple of minutes earlier, inadvertently spilled a Laurent Vel cross and in the impending scramble for the loose ball, Yannick Charlette tucked the ball home for a 1-1 final result to leave Foresters, coached by Bryan Bastienne, to rue a golden chance to secure qualification for the quarterfinals.

“We dominated this match and had quite a number of chances to win this encounter but a goalkeeping error changed the result but we have to accept such occurrences in football and we will move on,” coach Bastienne told Sports NATION.

For his part, The Lions coach Marc Mathiot was quite pleased with the point as he tries to rebuild the squad with two new foreign imports from Uganda, namely Sharif Saaka and Stephen Wavamuno.

“We had to re-adjust after the injury to our central defender Geno Agathine and this had an effect on our play but we improved in the second period and we are satisfied with a point,” coach Mathiot related to Sports NATION.

R. J-L.