Football: Barclays League Division One-Good weekend for Praslin and La Digue teams |09 March 2009
Praslin-based Light Stars travelled to Mahe to beat SMB 2-0, Anse Réunion edged President’s Cup winners St Louis Suns 1-0 to bring them back to earth and La Passe showed their intentions this season as they thrashed visitors Foresters 5-0.
Esther double sinks SMB
Praslin side LightStars’ Warren Esther came off the bench to score a brace to break SMB resistance in a 2-0 victory at Stad Linite on Friday.
The first half was a drab affair as both teams tried to find a pattern to their play with very few goal-scoring opportunities.
LightStars though had the first chance in the sixth minute as SMB captain David Dorby misjudged a long ball to let in Andrew Jean whose attempted lob was saved by goalkeeper Elvis Leopold.
Two minutes later, Leopold again saved his team as he tipped over Malagasy Patrick Rasaminanana’s strong shot from Hugh Jeanne’s cross.
The game then transcended into a lack of pattern and goal month actions and the only chance before the break fell to SMB’s Gerald Basset in the 34th minute. He picked up a long pass but tried to shoot the ball over goalie Denis Fideria but it flew wide.
Play improved slightly in the second half and in the 47th minute Jean fired at Leopold who tipped over as SMB rode their luck.
LightStars should have opened the scoring in the 51st minute as Shaun Barbé played a superb ball over SMB’s defence to Renick Esther but his control let him down when he was in the clear.
Five minutes later, SMB almost stole the lead as Colin Laporte threaded a pass to Yannick Julie, who was in sight of goal, but a great recovery tackle by captain Bertrand Esther cleared the danger.
In the 65th minute, SMB saw substitute Eddy Samedi’s long range effort pushed over the crossbar by Fideria.
In the 68th minute, SMB’s Laporte was lucky to escape at least a booking from referee Julian Sanders when he lashed out at Malagasy Rasaminanana in retaliation. Laporte was not even booked.
SMB went close to break the deadlock in the 78th minute from an inch-perfect cross by substitute Marty Fanny but Julie shot weakly when the goal was at his mercy.
LightStars made them pay for their miss as substitute Warren Esther pounced on a long ball to fire past Leopold for a 1-0 lead.
Four minutes later, Senky Vidot almost doubled his team’s advantage with a brilliant shot which was well stopped by Leopold.
Seconds later, LightStars sealed their victory as a cross went through a forest of legs to the same Warren Esther who scored a carbon copy of his first strike to make it 2-0.
LightStars captain Bertrand Esther told Sports Nation after the match that his team are still re-organising but they are aiming to finish in the top three in the league this season.
St Louis Suns’ rude awakening
Anse Réunion coach Vojo Gardasevic told Sports Nation that he had seen St Louis Suns’ weakness against St Michel the weekend before and they had plan for them.
Coach Vojo claimed that it was a tactical victory as his team heeded his advice to the letter.
As for St Louis Suns, they should have known better that Anse Réunion would provide a different challenge but by changing their winning team, they paid the price.
However, St Louis Suns enjoyed plenty of possession as they dominated the match against an Anse Réunion side who were happy to frustrate them and try to hit them on the break.
St Louis Suns almost scored in the fourth minute in a match which kicked off almost 15 minutes late. It started from Roderick Rose’s back pass to goalie Ricky Rose, whose clearance came off the charging Yannick Charlette. Luckily for Anse Réunion, the ball bounced kindly into Ricky Rose’s gloves.
Two minutes later, St Louis Suns produced a good passing move involving Denis Barbé and Malagasy Jean Del’Or Carolus Tsaralaza, who fed Andy Mougal, whose shot on the turn brought a flying save from Ricky Rose who later saved from Jean Del’Or.
Anse Réunion created a decent chance in the 39th minute as Roderick Rose played a short corner to Julius Adrienne whose cross should have been tucked in by Malagasy Milison Niasere, but he failed to connect as the St Louis Suns defence went to sleep.
This proved to be a warning for St Louis Suns as Anse Réunion snatched the lead in the 43rd minute. Striker Niasere dropped into midfield to pick up a pass and played a neat one-two with Yelvanny Rose before racing clear past three St Louis Suns defenders to round goalie Eugene Valentin and score in an empty goal.
Anse Réunion went close to scoring a second goal in the 49th minute as Niasere broke clear but referee Jourdan Benstrong blew his whistle for offside.
In the 56th minute, it was St Louis Suns’ turn to go on the attack. Malagasy Rijaniaina Hasinaina picked out Barbé in acres of space but his strong shot flew wide.
They brought on Wilnes Brutus on the hour mark to try and break a solid Anse Réunion defence where Jude Bibi was impressive.
In the 62nd minute, Barbé threaded a pass to Jean Del’Or who looked odds on to score but Ricky Rose saved his shot with his foot. The Anse Réunion goalkeeper also made a fantastic save six minutes later from Brutus’ well-struck volley.
Anse Réunion, who gave Etienne Jean his debut as he came on for Niasere in the 75th minute, missed another opportunity through Yelvanny Rose but held on to the win to secure their first three points.
Coach Vojo Gardasevic, who is in his fourth season with Anse Réunion, said: “My team deserved to win as we were brilliant tactically. We limited St Louis Suns space.”
La Passe thrash Foresters
On La Digue, home team La Passe showed their intention for the 2009 season with an emphatic 5-0 victory over Foresters to go top of the eight-team standings.
Malagasy Asman Abdou opened the score and his colleague Bruno Saindina doubled their advantage for a 2-0 half-time lead.
Another Malagasy player, Eric Rajaobery, got La Passe’s third goal before Foresters conceded an own goal.
Abdou completed his brace and got his team’s fifth goal to make it an unpleasant start for Foresters’ coaching pair of Galvin Jeanne and José Labiche.
R. J-L.