Football: Airtel Cup |23 December 2019

St Louis sink 10-man Foresters to reach quarterfinals

St Louis sunk 10-man Foresters on a narrow 1-0 scoreline on Saturday afternoon at Stad Linite to reach the quarterfinals of the Airtel Cup.

St Louis were in the mood for this encounter as they started brightly carrying the game to their opponents and in the 11th minute Gervais Waye-Hive chest-trapped the ball into the path of Karl Hall whose fierce shot was charged down by Foresters captain Leonard Besabotsy who was winded and it took some time before he could recover and continue to play.

St Louis broke the deadlock in the 18th minute after a neat build-up where captain Bertrand Esther marauded into midfield and played a perfectly weighted pass to Malagasy Tahiry who had sneaked into the Foresters’ penalty area and he kept his composure to stab the ball through the legs of goalkeeper Kitson Cecile to make it 1-0.

The players of coach Michel Renaud should have stretched their lead on the half hour mark when Waye-Hive linked up with Tahiry before Waye-Hive skipped past defender Brandon Molle to pick out Hall with a pinpoint cross but Hall headed wide a great chance.

Foresters had to react and in the 34th minute, Nigerian Kazeem Adeyeri pounced on a defensive error to bore on goal but he was chased by three St Louis players as he ran out of legs and went down in search of a free kick but referee Kerens Yocette was not convinced.

St Louis though had to reshuffle their defence as Danny Madeleine was injured and was replaced by Mike Lesperance in the 39th minute and his first involvement was a foul on Leroy Corallie just outside the penalty area.

Captain Besabotsy produced a rasping shot from the resulting free kick which St Louis’ Malagasy goalkeeper Michel could just palm away for a 1-0 score at half-time.

Foresters made two changes for the second period with Ryan Henriette and Brandon Labrosse coming on in place of Corallie and Brian Dorby for a more offensive line-up and they were more into the match but St Louis were also vigilant in defence as they kept them at bay.

Foresters had a decent chance in the 72nd minute after a slip-up by St Louis skipper Esther to let in Labrosse who linked up with Adeyeri but he hurried his shot under pressure from Jude Nancy and the St Louis goalkeeper saved well the low shot.

Controversy loomed large in the 79th minute when Hall missed a long cross which goalkeeper Cecile had collected and as the St Louis striker was on the floor, there seemed to be an exchange of words which Hall took offence to and reacted by punching the ball out of the goalkeeper’s hand in anger and the two players squared up before they were pulled apart which was a renewal of their bust-up in the first half when Hall had climbed all over the Foresters custodian to head into the net but the goal was disallowed though Foresters goalkeeper Kitson Cecile was unhappy with Hall’s aggression.

The official then called the two players and the spectators awaited the worse for Hall who had been yellow carded early in the second half for kicking the ball away and his action this time warranted at least a second yellow if not a straight red in itself but referee Yocette chickened out as he just talked to the two players and let Hall off the hook much to the annoyance of the Foresters camp as the bench remonstrated with the official.

Referee Yocette then did not help his cause as in the 82nd minute he was quick to splash out a second yellow card to Kenner Nourrice for a mistimed tackle on substitute Dean Mothé and the Foresters bench was up in arms as play was held up which was surely a case of double standard and lacking in consistency with Foresters really right to feel hard done by the official as they had to continue to soldier on with 10 men.

But thankfully calm was restored and St Louis managed to grind out this win to inflict a first loss on Foresters after a 10-match unbeaten run in the league to progress to the quarterfinals of this Airtel Cup much to the delight of their fans and coach Renaud. 

“We played a very disciplined match today and defended well with a lot of concentration and we had a good first half and then managed our game well to keep our opponents at bay for a good result and encouraging performance overall to end the year,” St Louis coach Renaud told Sports NATION.

As for Foresters coach Harold Hoareau, he preferred not to comment on the controversial decision but felt his team never got going in this match.

“We are disappointed as we had prepared well for this match but the players did not raise their game and though we played a bit better in the second half, we did not play to our expected level,” the Foresters coach lamented to Sports NATION.

La Passe v Au Cap match postponed

The other fourth-round match which was to be played on La Digue on Saturday afternoon between La Passe and Au Cap was postponed to a later date.

According to reliable sources, this match had to be called off as all officials had expressed their concern with the lack of adequate security on both Praslin and La Digue during matches and have therefore resolved not to undertake any matches on the inner islands until the matter is rectified.

This action from the officials is in support and solidarity with their colleague referee Emile Fred who was physically assaulted on La Digue by a spectator the previous weekend and surely this matter must be dealt with by the concerned authorities to protect our national game.

R. J-L.