Football: Airtel Cup quarterfinals – first leg |13 August 2018
Red Star Defence Forces, Côte d’Or victorious
● Northern Dynamo and St Louis share spoils
Defending Airtel Cup champions Northern Dynamo could only share the spoils with St Louis 1-1 on Friday while on Saturday at Stad Linite, Red Star Defence Forces’ Malagasy striker Jocelyn Fenosoa bagged four goals to see off Au Cap 4-1. At Stad Amitié on Praslin on the same day, Côte d’Or edged Foresters 4-3.
The second leg of the quarterfinal matches are scheduled for this week.
Jocelyn super show stun Au Cap
Red Star Defence Forces came from behind to win convincingly 4-1 helped by four goals by Malagasy striker Jocelyn at Stad Linite against Au Cap on Saturday.
The two teams observed a minute’s silence before the start of the match in honour of the dearly departed mother of Au Cap manager Nichol Dogley last week.
Red Star Defence Forces should have taken the lead in the 8th minute from Jocelyn‘s through ball to Leeroy Corallie who eluded a defender but he blazed over the crossbar when he should have found the back of the Au Cap net.
Au Cap went ahead three minutes later as Oliver Camille exchanged passes with Ghanaian Jonas Baffoe whose return pass put him clean through and he beat goalkeeper Danny Larue in the Red Star Defence Forces goal for a 1-0 lead.
Corallie again failed to hit the target in the 12th minute from Jocelyn’s pass as he could not tuck the ball past goalkeeper Ryland Leon from a mêlée in the goalmouth.
Au Cap then gifted their opponents an equaliser in the 21st minute from goalkeeper Larue’s long goal kick and Jocelyn hassled for the ball with Malagasy defender Edgard Nandresena who won the battle but then played a short ball to his goalkeeper. Jocelyn pounced on the pass to score easily for a 1-1 score.
On the half hour mark, Kenner Nourrice and Andrew Onezia linked up before the former The Lions defender let fly a cracking shot from 35 meters out which was tipped over by goalkeeper Leon. From the resulting corner, Nourrice failed to head home Jocelyn’s inswinging corner.
A minute later at the other end, Au Cap captain Dean Balette floated the ball from a free kick behind the Red Star Defence Forces’ rearguard to Chris Uranie who could not direct his header into an empty net with goalkeeper Larue out of his goal as the ball hit him to roll into corner.
Red Star Defence Forces went mighty close to go ahead on the stroke of half-time from Malagasy Jean Tigana’s cross which Corallie flicked over the advancing goalkeeper Leon and the ball was heading for goal before defender Edgard cleared on the goal-line to leave the score at 1-1 at the break.
The second half was also quite enthralling as both teams went on the offensive with Jocelyn going close in the 50th minute as he skipped past two defenders before he was brought down on the edge fo the penalty area by substitute Marcus Louise for a free kick which he shot over the bar.
But Jocelyn made amends in the 66th minute from another free kick on the right where his curling shot deflected off the Au Cap defensive wall to wrong foot goalkeeper Leon to make it 2-1.
Au Cap thought they should have been awarded a penalty in the73rd minute when Red Star Defence Forces defender Michel Souris appeared to handle substitute Mangel Adonis’ cross but referee Kerens Yocette, who had a good game, was not convinced.
Two minutes later, Adonis released substitute Malagasy Estel Randrina who was clean through but he shot tamely at goalkeeper Larue as he wasted a glorious chance to help his team draw level.
Red Star Defence Forces responded in the 81st minute as Jocelyn latched onto Nambintsoa’s through ball to round captain Balette but his fierce shot crashed against the outside of the post.
In the 89th minute, Au Cap goalkeeper Leon tried to be too clever with the ball as he dilly dallied with it for too long and was dispossessed by Corallie who fired at goal but Edgard did brilliantly to block the goal-bound shot.
Au Cap gave away another free kick in a similar position to the one which allowed their opponents to take the lead as captain Balette tripped substitute Ryan Henriette in added time.
Jocelyn lined the dead ball and he thumped it low into the bottom far corner to make it 3-1 as he completed his hat-trick.
Jocelyn’s single-handed demolition of Au Cap was completed from the re-start as Au Cap lost the ball and it was played forward to Nambintsoa who squared to Jocelyn to ram it home to give Red Star Defence Forces a flattering 4-1 triumph, a result which was not a true reflection of the match though Jocelyn’s goal scoring prowess was the only difference between the two teams who will meet again in the second leg on Friday with the army team having one foot in the semifinal.
Red Star Defence Forces manager Philip Barbé admitted after the match that it was a balanced affair though their striker had swung the tie in their favour.
“Our opponents gave us a tough match as they put up a strong resistance and we are not satisfied with our performance as we had expected it to be better but we scored the vital goals as we applied the pressure late on to win convincingly,” manager Barbé told Sports NATION.
As for Au Cap manager Nichol Dogley, he felt his team gave a good account of themselves but a lapse in concentration late in the match gave their opponents a comfortable victory.
“It was a very satisfying performance by our team as we even took the lead but then gifted our opponents the equaliser and we conceded two goals late in the match due to a lapse in concentration,” explained the Au Cap manager.
Côte d’Or beat Foresters in seven-goal thriller
Praslin side Côte d’Or and Foresters served a seven-goal thriller at Stad Amitié on Saturday as the home team won narrowly 4-3 in the first leg of the Airtel Cup quarterfinal encounter.
Côte d’Or broke the deadlock in the 10th minute as Collin Esther put them 1-0 up but Ugandan striker Tony Kizito leveled matters four minutes later for a 1-1 score.
Dave Brioche restored the Praslin team’s lead at 2-1 in the 29th minute but Foresters captain, Malagasy Leonard Besabotsy equalised at 2-2 with a free kick in the 40th minute.
Brioche though bagged his brace and his team’s third goal in the 44h minute for a 3-2 scoreline at half-time.
Foresters drew level once again in this high-scoring match in the 70th minute through Tanzanian midfielder Hussein Bakari for a 3-3 score, but Côte d’Or were not done as they netted a fourth goal in the 86th minute.
It all came courtesy of a penalty awarded by referee Emile Fred which was taken by Nigerian midfielder Peter Adeshina whose shot was saved by goalkeeper Elvis Leopold but he pounced on the rebound to grab a vital home win for his team who will travel to Mahe for the return leg on Saturday.
Northern Dynamo and St Louis share the spoils
Reigning Airtel Cup holders Northern Dynamo and first division league champions St Louis shared a 1-1 draw in an exciting match on Friday at Stad Linite.
This was an open contest which should have seen more goals and could have gone either way though it was the Airtel Cup winners who took the lead in the 14th minute from a long throw-in by Francis Moumou which came off St Louis defender Damien Maria under pressure from Gambian forward Musa Njie for a 1-0 lead.
In the 26th minute, Roddy Melanie picked out Gervais Waye-Hive with a cross-field pas and he controlled the ball well to curl a beautiful shot which came off the crossbar as Northern Dynamo rode their luck.
St Louis should have levelled the score in the 34th minute from Waye-Hive’s long ball to Nigerian Kazeem Adeyeri who set up Roddy Melanie whose shot produced a smart save out of goalkeeper Ricky Pool.
Northern Dynamo almost went 2-0 up in the dying minutes of the first half when Waye-Hive lost the ball to Stan Esther who linked up with Njie before crossing to Marcus Maria whose shot was well dealt with by a vigilant goalkeeper Michel for a 1-0 score at the interval.
St Louis raised the tempo in the second period and got their due reward in the 75th minute from substitute Achille Henriette’s cross which Adeyeri headed home to make it 1-1.
The goal spurred St Louis on and in the 77th minute, Moumou brought down Adeyeri just outside the penalty area but referee Alix Bonne was not convinced.
Four minutes later, Moumou fouled Adeyeri this time in the penalty area but once again the official was not strong enough to point to the penalty spot.
To add insult to injury, in the 83rd minute, Adeyeri was again the victim of another crunching foul by substitute Basil Bertin which should have resulted in a penalty but referee Bonne waved play on as the match ended in a stalemate between the 2017 Airtel Cup finalists and they will resume their battle in the second leg on Thursday.
St Louis manger Davis Khan was unhappy with the official when he spoke to Sports NATION after the match.
“We missed loads of chances in this match though it was quite a balanced encounter but we were also denied a couple of clear penalties which is quite unjust,” claimed the St Louis manager.
As for Northern Dynamo coach Cliff Nolin whose team rose to the occasion, he also felt his team had their moments in this highly intriguing match.
“We had a good first half and also created some good scoring chances and could even have had a penalty in the first half,” coach Nolin stated as the quarterfinal second leg continues as of Thursday.
R. J-L.