Football: Barclays league division one- High scoring weekend |15 April 2013
In Saturday’s top-of-the-table clash on La Digue, La Passe and St Michel shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw and on Friday St Francis registered their first point in a 2-2 stalemate with The Lions.
A total of 21 goals were scored in this fifth round of five matches, starting with St Louis Suns’ 1-0 defeat of Côte d’Or last Thursday.
La Passe and St Michel draw
This was surely the tie of the weekend as league leaders La Passe clashed with defending champions St Michel as both teams’ unbeaten run was at stake.
This was an eventful match as former St Michel striker Yves Zialor gave La Passe the lead in the 39th minute for a 1-0 half-time advantage.
However, St Michel equalised through a penalty in the 57th minute as captain Don Anacoura beat goalkeeper Vincent Euphrasie for a 1-1 score.
The goal gave the visitors the momentum and their dominance paid off in the 71st minute as Malagasy Jean Del’Or Tsaralaza slotted the ball into the net in the 72nd minute to give St Michel a 2-1 lead.
St Michel’s lead was short-lived as La Passe fought back and was awarded a penalty by referee Bernard Camille in the 75th minute for a handball by Alex Nibourette as he tussled for the ball with Rick Bibi.
Malagasy Valerie was given the task to take the penalty kick and he rifled the ball past goalkeeper Gino Melanie to make it 2-2 – the final score as the only two unbeaten teams shared the points.
LightStars thrash Anse Reunion
On Praslin on Saturday, LightStars recorded their first win in emphatic style as they thrashed Anse Reunion 6-1.
Bertrand Lablache gave the Praslin side the lead only for Anse Reunion’s Malagasy Hugo Sezou to level matters at 1-1.
But Mario Ravo and Lablache added two more before half-time to take a 3-1 lead.
Lablache scored another in the second half as he completed his hat-trick while Ravo and Malagasy Hugo also got on the score-sheet to complete the 6-1 rout.
Northern Dynamo demolish St Roch
At Stad Linite on Saturday, this Northern derby was quite entertaining and with plenty of goals – five – to savour.
St Roch started brightly and Roy Julie should have done better with a floated free-kick by Terry Crea but he could not direct his header on target.
Four minutes later, St Roch’s Mickey Songoire surged forward to link up with Leeroy Gomme who bore on goal but his shot was deflected into corner.
In the 15th minute, Northern Dynamo stunned St Roch as Marcus Maria found space on the left to centre to the unmarked Charles De Clarisse at the far post and he fired into the net for a 1-0 lead against the run of play.
The goal rattled St Roch while it lifted Dynamo and in the 34th minute, captain Evans Télémaque burst through and as Daven Belle tried to chase the run he pulled a muscle allowing Télémaque a free run to centre to Maria who surprisingly shot straight at goalkeeper Julio Toulon.
Dynamo though stretched their lead in the 42nd minute as Maria broke clear to square to Kieren Sinon who shot past Toulon to make it 2-0 at half-time.
Dynamo continued to torment St Roch as the two first half goals had knocked the stuffing out of them.
In the 58th minute, Dynamo’s Basil Bertin bore forward to pick up a ball over the defence and he kept his cool to beat Toulon for a 3-0 advantage.
On the hour mark, St Roch had a half chance as Alpha Baldé eluded Collin Tirant to centre, forcing goalkeeper Jules Monnaie to tip over to cut out the danger.
Six minutes later, Dynamo countered to devastating effect as substitute Steven Télémaque and Malagasy Asman Todisoa exchanged passes to open up St Roch’s defence. Todisoa set up Maria whose shot was parried into the path of captain Evans Télémaque and he drilled the loose ball into the net for a 4-0 score.
In the 83rd minute, Dynamo’s Marty Fanny burst through a couple of tackles to pick out substitute Steven Télémaque but his shot was pushed out by Toulon.
Dynamo put the icing on the cake in the 85th minute from captain Télémaque’s short corner to Fanny who combined with substitute Jean-Alain Valentin who was brought down by St Roch’s substitute Danyl Antat.
Referee Kierens Yocette, who had a good game, had no choice but to point to the penalty spot and substitute Valentin picked himself up to shoot past goalkeeper Toulon to complete a 5-0 rout.
St Francis claim first point
Bottom club St Francis came from behind to register a morale boosting 2-2 draw against The Lions at Stad Linite on Friday.
It was St Francis’ first point in the new Barclays league campaign and it was achieved in the hard way as they fought back from 2-0 down to hold on to a draw with 10 men after Harry Libanotis had to leave the pitch with a knee injury. Having made all their three substitutions, the Baie Lazare-based team had to plod on for the last 15 minutes of the match.
The Lions though will rue themselves for missing the opportunity to go top of the league standings for at least 24 hours. They seemed to be on the right track when young Laurent Vel opened the scoring in the 16th minute as he fired past goalkeeper Ian Ah-Kong for a 1-0 lead for the boys of coach Gavin Jeanne.
The Lions were firmly in control at this point but young Adrian Constance of St Francis tested goalkeeper Jerome Dingwall with a fierce free-kick in the 28th minute which he had to push into corner.
Cascade-based The Lions stretched their advantage in the 39th minute, ironically after St Francis’ Malagasy defender Malamo Ducaud had played a poor free-kick which Rachim Padayachy picked up to release Vel. The former St John Bosco striker weaved his way across St Francis’ penalty area to thread a ball which was drilled home at the far post by Malagasy Antonio to make it 2-0.
The Lions again started strongly in the second period and in the 50th minute Vel fed Malagasy Antonio who crossed in the box but goalkeeper Ah-Kong just managed to thwart the threat of Damoo who was lurking.
Two minutes later, The Lions should have gone further ahead as captain Randolph Lablache twisted and turned before laying the ball to Malagasy Antonio whose stinging shot was parried into corner by Ah-Kong.
St Francis got a lucky break as they reduced the arrears in the 57th minute out of the blue
The goal spurred St Francis as they were now buzzing and seven minutes later they levelled matters. It all started from substitute Esparon’s through ball to Antat and The Lions goalkeeper Dingwall rushed out to cut out the pass but only managed to trip the lanky midfielder for a clear penalty.
Referee Alistair Barra rightly obliged to point to the spot but only dished out a yellow card when it should have been a straight red card – a decision which did not go down well with the St Francis camp – while the Lions’ bench breathed a sigh of relief.
St Francis’ Malamo Ducaud was assigned the spot kick and he easily sent Dingwall the wrong way to equalise at 2-2.
As for St Francis, they had to transport Antat to hospital with a wrist injury and Malagasy Branly Zizi, who was not fully fit, replaced him despite his restricted movement.
However, in the 75th minute, Harry Libanotis could not continue after a strong challenge and this left St Francis with a tough task and even Constance was being affected by cramp late in the match.
The Lions then camped in St Francis’ half but could only create a half chance in the 89th minute as captain Lablache threaded a pass to substitute Carlos Mondon who was clean through but he hesitated and blew the chance, much to the annoyance of his teammates who missed a glorious opportunity to claim their fourth league win.
St Francis coach Marc Mathiot was pleased with his team’s fighting spirit after a slow start and felt that if Antat had not been injured, his team would have gone on to register their first league victory.
R. J-L.