Football: Triangular tournament-Anse Réunion edge national selection |22 January 2007

The start of the tournament was delayed by three days as the pitch wasn’t ready and even on Friday, the heavy downpours had threatened to disrupt the match watched by a handful of spectators.

On the new pitch, the players took time to find their footing which was not helped by the puddles of water as well as some rustiness after the long break.

But according to Anse Réunion’s defender Etienne Fanchette, the new pitch is a golden gift and at the end of the match, he expressed his joy at playing on this new surface.

The national selection created the first real chance in the 11th minute from Bernard St Ange’s floated corner which was met by Jonathan Bibi’s header but it was cleared by a defender on the Anse Réunion goal-line.

Seven minutes later, the national selection should have taken the lead as Colin Laporte latched onto Anse Réunion’s Etienne Fanchette’s weak clearance to attempt a lob over goalkeeper Ricky Rose and the ball sailed agonisingly wide.

At the half-hour mark, Laporte again pounced on a defensive error to release Mervin Mathiot who shot straight at goalie Rose.

Playing with their four foreign players, Anse Réunion enjoyed plenty of possession but the final ball to their quick-silver striker Malagasy Firinga Fahidanny was poor.

On the stroke of half-time, on a counter-attack Laporte threaded a pass to Mathiot with Anse Réunion’s defence caught out but Mathiot shot wide with the goal at his mercy.

Coach Vojo Gardasevic’s Anse Réunion started on a high in the second half as Fahidanny burst through in the 48th minute and despite mis-hitting the ball, it had enough power to beat goalie Vincent Euphrasie to give his team a 1-0 lead.

In the 58th minute, Malagasy Jocelyn played a quick free-kick to Fahidanny whose snap-shot was saved by goalie Euphrasie.

The national selection made a couple of substitutions in the second half and raised the tempo, but they could not find a breakthrough.

It was Anse Réunion who should have killed off the contest in the 74th minute from Armantal Ernesta’s glorious cross-field pass to Fahidanny who squared instinctively into the national selection’s penalty area, but both Roderick Rose and Ronny Jacques failed to connect with the goal begging.

After the match, coach Vojo said that it was a very encouraging result for his team in their preparation for the African adventure with starts this coming weekend.

Anse Réunion were to play St Michel in the tournament’s second match yesterday.

R.J-L.