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Football: Airtel Cup - St Michel bounce back in style against 10-man St Louis |27 July 2018

St Michel bounced back in style against the league and cup winners St Louis to win emphatically 4-1 in an Airtel Cup group B match on Wednesday afternoon at Stad Linite.

It was sweet revenge for St Michel in front of a decent crowd that turned up for this saints derby as the Anse Aux Pins-based team had to win to keep alive their hopes of reaching the quarterfinals of this competition which they have won a record nine times.

St Louis nearly broke the deadlock in the 3rd minute from a wicked cross by Gervais Waye-Hive to the back post to Elijah Tamboo whose downward header was just kept out by goalkeeper Alvin Michel.

St Michel responded in the 21st minute as they went forward and after a mêlée in the opposition penalty area, the ball broke to Yannick Manou who let fly a stinging shot which goalkeeper Michel tipped over the crossbar.

St Michel though took the lead a minute later from a searching ball by Trevor Poiret to Malagasy Francis and St Louis goalkeeper Michel inexplicably raced out of his goal when two defenders had the situation under control which made life easy for the St Michel Malagasy striker who lobbed him to make it 1-0 much to the embarrassment of the St Louis custodian for this gross error of judgment.

St Louis should have leveled the score two minutes later as Malagasy Tahiry threaded a pass to Nigerian forward Kazeem Adeyeri who benefitted from a St Michel defender slipping but instead of going for goal he decided to feed Tamboo who was offside.

St Michel increased their lead in the 27th minute when Jean-Paul Aglaé and Roddy Melanie gave the ball away and Malagasy Evariste pounced on the loose ball to rifle a cracking low shot which grazed the near post to beat goalkeeper Michel who was again at fault for a 2-0 lead.

It could have been 3-0 just past the half hour mark as Francis and Evariste combined but the striker could not direct his header from Evariste’s pinpoint cross on target.

St Louis once again failed to convert at the other end in the 35th minute from Waye-Hive’s inswinging corner which eluded the St Michel defence to drop nicely to Jean-Paul Aglaé but somehow his downward header sailed over the bar as the first half ended in favour of St Michel.

St Louis came out for the second half with all guns blazing and in the 49th minute, Tamboo went on a darting run riding a couple of tackles before his curling low shot sailed agonisingly wide of goalkeeper Alvin Michel’s far post.

In the 52nd minute, St Louis created havoc in the St Michel penalty area and when the ball was half cleared to Gerick Vidot, his mis-hit shot fell to Adeyeri in the box but he could not adjust his shot in time.

Adeyeri missed another gilt-edge opportunity in the 64th minute from a superb cross-field pass by Waye-Hive which fell to his feet but he volleyed over the crossbar when he should have hit the target.

St Louis then got caught flat-footed at the back in the 73rd minute on a counter as Malagasy Hassan Aly filtered a pass to Francis who raced clear of captain Damien Maria and Juninho Mathiot but Mathiot quite clumsily decided to pull down the St Michel striker in the penalty area to give away a penalty and worse was to follow as referee Bernard Camille issued him with a straight red card.

Aly took responsibility of the spot kick to easily beat goalkeeper Michel to make it 3-0 much to the delight of the St Michel fans whose team were without a win in almost three months.

St Michel even added a fourth goal in the 85th minute from a quick throw-in by captain Alex Nibourette to Malagasy substitute Livakely whose instinctive cross was headed in at the near post by Francis past goalkeeper Michel for a 4-0 score.

St Louis though won a dubious penalty in the 92nd minute when referee Camille wrongly penalised former St Louis defender Marlon Asba as he tangled for the ball with Adeyeri who went down in a heap to get a penalty that never was.

St Michel were furious as they were being denied the opportunity to avenge their 4-0 loss to St Louis in the league and more so as there was clearly no foul to merit a penalty.

Nonetheless, the penalty was taken where Adeyeri drilled it past goalkeper Alvin Michel to make it 1-4 the final score as St Louis suffered their first defeat in local competition this season and Red Star Defence Forces are now the only unbeaten team in the top flight.

St Michel manager Andrew Jean-Louis welcomed this return to winning ways though he was very critical of the official for awarding this late penalty to their opponents.

“We must congratulate the players as today they showed more hunger and determination in a very interesting battle but we also scored when the opportunities came and it was a good morale-booster though we are disappointed with the late penalty which was non-existent,” claimed the St Michel manager.

For his part, St Louis manager Davis Khan said his team committed too many defensive errors which proved costly against their fierce rivals.

“We struggled to find our rhythm in this match and we also committed too many defensive errors to give away goals to our opponents to grow in confidence.  We will go back to the drawing board and be ready for the quarterfinals,” stated manager Khan.

St Louis top group B with three wins while St Michel still have to travel to La Digue to face Anse Reunion on Saturday and avoid a heavy loss to guarantee a quarterfinal berth.

 

R. J-L.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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