Football: Division one league - Côte d’Or edge The Lions, St Louis survive scare |16 April 2018

● St Michel, Anse Reunion, La Passe win

Praslin outfit Côte d’Or edged The Lions 2-1 at Stad Linite on Saturday while on Praslin, St Michel defeated LightStars 4-1 and Anse Reunion beat Northern Dynamo 3-1 on La Digue.

On Friday, champions St Louis were lucky to earn a 2-2 draw against Au Cap whereas La Passe overcame Revengers 3-1 on Praslin.

Côte d’Or leave it late

Praslin’s Côte d’Or left it late against The Lions to triumph 2-1 on Saturday at Stad Linite in front of a small crowd.

Côte d’Or carried the game to their opponents who lost their striker, Nigerian Samuel Okoye in the 7th minute with a twisted ankle.

Coached by James Barra, Côte d’Or went close in the 20th minute from Collin Esther’s teasing cross to Malagasy Kassah Voavy who chest-trapped the ball and fired at goalkeeper Raphael Moustache who blocked his shot.

The Praslin side took the lead in the 27th minute as Collin Esther released Voavy Faralahibe down the right and his inch-perfect cross was headed downwards past goalkeeper Moustache by Norris Bibi to make it 1-0.

In the 38th minute, Côte d’Or’s Jules Constance tested goalkeeper Moustache with a rasping shot from the edge of the penalty area after being teed up by Voavy but The Lions custodian was equal to the task.

Côte d’Or then gave away a cheap goal when defender Heddy Esther tried to head the ball back to his goalkeeper, Neddy Lesperance but the ball rolled into corner on the stroke of half time.

Malagasy Estel Randrina floated the corner kick in a crowded penalty area where defender Gino Agathine headed home to make it 1-1 the score at half time.

The Lions nearly got a second goal in the 47th minute from a wicked free kick by Randrina which almost beat goalkeeper Lesperance at the near post but he just managed to push the ball onto the post.

Côte d’Or though then went on to dominate proceedings and in the 59th minute, Collin Esther centred to Voavy and goalkeeper Moustache missed the ball but Voavy could only hit the post.

After that, goalkeper Moustache stood defiant as he made some great saves to keep their opponents at bay.

On the hour mark, Nigerian Peter Adeshina threaded the ball to Voavy but goalkeeper Moustache dived at his feet to force a corner.

From the resulting corner which Constance played to Norris Bibi who floated it in the box, Adeshina rose to head it goal wards but goalkeeper Moustache produced a superb save to tip over the crossbar.

The Lions defenders then gifted their opponents a goal in the 84th minute when Malagasy Clariel and Keddy Moustache got in each other’s way and Kassah stole the ball to race clear and stab it low past goalkeeper Moustache for a 2-1 final score.

Côte d’Or coach James Barra said he was disappointed with his team’s performance when he spoke to Sports NATION after the match.

“It was not a good performance though we started well and we were lucky to win in the end to get the three points,” coach Barra said.

As for The Lions coach Marc Mathiot whose team have now lost all of their five matches, he blamed a lapse in concentration for their loss.

“We put on a good fight but this time our defenders let us down with a poor mistake late in the game which proved costly,” coach Mathiot claimed.

St Michel inflict first defeat on LightStars

St Michel returned to winning ways inspired by a hat-trick by their new Malagasy striker Francis to inflict a first loss on LightStars in a 4-1 victory on Praslin on Saturday.

Francis had put his team 1-0 up at the interval before Leeroy Corallie made it 2-0, but Renick Esther cut the deficit at 1-2.

Francis then grabbed two more goals for his first hat-trick as he opened his account for his new team for an emphatic 4-1 win.

Anse Reunion down Northern Dynamo

Anse Reunion downed Northern Dynamo 3-1 on Saturday on La Digue as Tanzanian Rashid Mohamed scored their first goal from the penalty spot and Dieter Constance made it 2-0.

Malagasy Rajamana reduced the score for Northern Dynamo at 1-2 but Yelvanny Rose scored late in the match to seal a 3-1 victory for coach Elsie Ernesta’s team.

St Louis survive Au Cap scare

League champions St Louis were given a big scare by newcomers Au Cap as they had to come from 2-0 down to earn a hard fought 2-2 draw at Stad Linite on Friday evening.

Au Cap had done their homework on the league champions, who began with the same team who had thrashed St Michel the previous week.

Au Cap pressed them to force them into making mistakes and then they capitalised on their defensive mistakes to break the deadlock deservedly in the 36th minute when St Louis goalkeeper, Malagasy Michel, pulled down Ghanaian forward Emanuel Armah for a penalty awarded by referee Egbert Havelock.

Ghanaian Jonas Baffoe stepped up to fire past goalkeeper Michel to put his team 1-0 up.

Au Cap put the cats among the pigeons when they doubled their advantage on the stroke of half-time from a Baffoe corner which was headed home by their captain Dean Balette for a shocking 2-0 score at the interval.

St Louis brought on Nigerian striker Kazeem Adeyeri in the second half and they won a penalty in the 56th minute as referee Havelock penalised Au Cap for a handball by a defender in the box.

Karl Hall took responsibility as he did so successfully the previous week but this time he was thwarted by goalkeeper Gerald Tirant who blocked his shot.

St Louis still struggled to overcome their opponents who matched them in all areas but Gervais Waye-Hive was unlucky with a strong shot in the 68th minute which was saved by goalkeeper Tirant.

At the other end, Baffoe should have extended Au Cap’s lead in the 71st minute with a free kick which was deflected onto the post.

St Louis were given a lifeline in the 89th minute from a Waye-Hive corner to Hall who headed home to reduce the arrears to 1-2.

St Louis kept pushing for an equaliser which came in the last minute of the three added minutes from Adeyeri’s raking free kick which went in past goalkeeper Tirant to make it 2-2 the final score as they survived a real scare and their manager Davis Khan was disappointed with his team’s performance where they just rode their luck to salvage a last gasp draw.

“We made a bad start as we lacked the determination and hunger against a fired up opponent and we just managed to get a draw in a match we wanted to win to close the gap on the leaders. But at least we got a point which we have to be content with as we almost lost,” manager Khan told Sports NATION.

As for Au Cap manager Nichol Dogley, he felt his team missed a great opportunity to register their first league win with the scalp of the league champions.

“It was a good performance by my players as they came all out to win and collect three points and we did well but then gave  away two goals with some defensive mistakes late in the match,” the Au Cap manager said.

La Passe beat Revengers

On Friday, La Passe defeated Revengers 3-1 in a league encounter at Stad Amitié.

La Passe opened the scoring through Malagasy Florent to make it 1-0 and Marcus Labiche got on the scoresheet for a 2-0 lead at half-time.

Malagasy Rhino added a third from the penalty spot after referee Nelson Emile awarded them a spot kick and he coolly tucked it away for a 3-0 score before Malagasy Christophe netted a consolation goal for Revengers and for a final score of 3-1.

R. J-L.