Football: Airtel Cup - Foresters hold off Au Cap’s challenge |03 August 2018

Foresters held off the challenge of Au Cap to draw 3-3 at Stad Linite in a pool C match on Tuesday evening as both teams finished the match with ten men.

Au Cap though were slightly the better side as they made a bright start and went close in the opening minute from Chris Uranie’s cross to Ghanaian Jonas Baffoe, who had one of his best matches for this newly promoted team, but his looping header sailed just over the crossbar.

Foresters then took the lead in the 10th minute with their first foray forward as Carlos Mondon switched play to the right to the overlapping Nelson Etienne who was in acres of space and he bore on goal to shoot past goalkeeper Ryland Leon for a 1-0 advantage.

Three minutes later, Baffoe again threatened at the back post from Malagasy Edgard Nandresena’s free kick which he could not direct on target.

Au Cap though got their due reward in the 17th minute from another Edgard free kick which came off the arm of Foresters’ Ugandan striker Tony Kizito whose sight was blinded by one of his teammates and referee Alistair Barra pointed to the penalty spot.

Au Cap captain Dean Balette stepped up for the penalty kick and he placed it low past goalkeeper Kitson Cecile to level the score at 1-1.

Au Cap then scored a fantastic second goal as captain Balette picked up a loose ball in his penalty area to carry it forward with great composure and then picked out Baffoe with a nice pass on the half way line and the Ghanaian showed incredible speed to leave defender Brandon Molle in his wake and he rounded goalkeeper Cecile to slot the ball home for a superb solo goal to make it 2-1.

Foresters drew level in the 35th minute when they once again exploited space on the left of the Au Cap defence as Kizito spread a pass out to Martin William who took his time to send an inch-perfect cross to Francis Nourrice who stabbed the ball into the roof of the net for a 2-2 score at half-time.

Au Cap again began the second half well and in the 50th minute Ghanaian Emmanuel Armah threaded a pass to Baffoe who was just put off by a strong presence of Foresters captain, Malagasy Leonard Besabotsy to shoot narrowly wide.

Baffoe though made amends two minutes later as he made a mockery of Besabotsy’s huge frame as he collected a long ball from Savio Labiche and he bulldozed his way past Besabotsy to race clear and he coolly fired the ball past goalkeeper Cecile at the near post for another brilliant goal to make it 3-2.

Foresters had to react as they took control of proceedings and in the 63rd minute William floated a corner at the near post which Mondon flicked on to Kizito but he could not hit the target with a header inside the penalty area.

In the 75th minute, Au Cap just survived a Foresters’ onslaught as Mondon’s cross fell to Ugandan midfielder Nasser Muzamir who deflected the ball into the path of Nourrice who looked odds on to score but goalkeeper Leon got a slight touch to deflect it into corner.

In the 81st minute, Foresters almost got caught from a quick break from a long goal kick which dropped invitingly to Baffoe who eluded Marlon Sophola’s tackle to shoot agonisingly across the Foresters goal.

Foresters leveled the score a minute later from captain Besabotsy’s free kick to Nourrice at the back post and he headed the ball back in the goalmouth to Muzamir who did not get the best of touches but it was high enough for Kizito to head past goalkeeper Leon to make it 3-3.

This fascinating match then transcended into several controversial incidents due to errors of judgment by referee Barra who up to this point had handled the match correctly before things nearly went out of hand.

It all began in the 89th minute when Baffoe had strayed offside and assistant referee Stephen Dugasse had raised his flag but referee Barra did not blow his whistle to indicate the infringement as he tried to play the advantage as Foresters had the ball in their possession but things turned far worse when the Foresters players, namely goalkeeper Cecile gave the ball to defender Laurence Leon who placed it on the floor and just touched it slightly assuming his goalkeeper would come and take the free kick without realizing that the ball was still in play as no offside had been given.

Baffoe, who read the confusion, pounced on the loose ball to shoot into the net at which point referee Barra blew his whistle to come back to the offside decision which he should have done much earlier to avoid such an embarrassing situation as Au Cap claimed that their goal was valid.

Two minutes into added time, referee Barra again got it wrong as he failed to penalise Foresters’ skipper Besabotsy for a strong challenge on substitute Marcus Louise and it should have resulted in a penalty but he was not convinced much to the anger of the Au Cap players.

Seconds later at the other end, assistant referee Bernard Mellon flagged for a crude tackle by Marcus Cedras on Williams but referee Barra waved play on at which point all hell broke loose as Nourrice took matters into his owns hands in a scuffle with Cedras and other players joined in as play was stopped briefly before common sense reigned and Nourrice was red carded as well as Cedras and referee Barra blew his whistle to end this otherwise interesting encounter to a close.

Foresters managed to maintain their unbeaten run in pool C to lead the standing with eight points whereas Au Cap are second with seven points and their coach Roger Labonté was pleased with his players’ showing on Tuesday.

“We played well in this match as it seems my players are getting used to playing at this level and they played as a team except for some individual mistakes which caused us to concede goals,” reflected the Au Cap coach.

As for the Foresters coach Bryan Bastienne, he was satisfied with the result as they top their group and remain unbeaten in four matches.

“We had to adjust our team due to suspensions to some of our players and we did not start well but we fought back to earn a draw and I am therefore satisfied with our performance,” the Foresters coach told Sports NATION as they await to know their opponents in the quarterfinal from pool ‘A’ comprising La Passe, Red Star Defence Forces and Côte d’Or.

R. J-L.