Football: Airtel Cup: Waye-Hive hits four goals to inspire St Michel |05 September 2014

Gervais Waye-Hive hit four goals to inspire Airtel Cup holders St Michel to a 6-0 victory over St Francis in an Airtel Cup pool A match on Wednesday evening at Stad Linite.

St Michel were expected to easily win this encounter against the whipping boys of this group despite resting some of their key players in view of their two tough matches ahead.

Nonetheless, they were too complacent and this was evident in the ninth minute when they had their first of a host of chances.

It started from Leeroy Corallie’s through ball to Wilnes Brutus who was miles offside but it was not signaled by assistant referee Ryan Damou allowing Brutus to turn but he amazingly shot wide from five metres out.

In the 20th minute, Brutus was guilty of another bad miss after Malagasy Jocelyn Fenosoa eluded Kenny Hoareau to flash the ball across the face of goal but he again failed to connect from a metre out.

It was left to Waye-Hive to settle the St Michel nerves in the 33rd minute as he collected Malagasy Jimmy Radafison’s crossfield pass to shoot at goal and despite the ball taking a deflection it flew over goalkeeper Ian Ah-Kong for a 1-0 lead as St Francis appealed for a not so obvious offside.

St Francis’ only noteworthy opportunity in this half fell to Malagasy Loe Lahimpira who had, along with his colleague Malamo Ducaud, been deployed to mark Hassan Aly.  Lahimpira went on a mazy run eluding two tackles but he could not trouble goalkeeper Nelson Sopha as his shot flashed across goal.

St Michel were a different proposition after the break and they showed more desire which was illustrated by Aly in the 49th minute as he linked up with Corallie but he blasted his shot instead of placing it into the net when he was through.

St Michel stretched their lead in the 52nd minute after Romial Oreddy intercepted a throw-in to feed Aly who released Waye-Hive who in turn centred to Jocelyn and he coolly stabbed the ball into the net for a 2-0 lead.

Two minutes later, St Michel scored again as Trevor Vidot spread the ball out to Jocelyn who raced clear to square it to Waye-Hive as he returned the favour and Waye-Hive made no mistake for a 3-0 lead.

St Michel continued to pile on the pressure and spring open St Francis’ tight offside trap at will.

In the 64th minute, Jocelyn burst through on the left and his cross was inadvertently put into the net by defender Ian Bibi for an own goal to make it 4-0.
St Francis felt hard done by referee Elzea Michel in the 76th minute as he failed to award them a clear free kick for a foul on Lahimpira on the edge of the penalty area but allowed St Michel to counter as Aly threaded a pass to Jocelyn who instead of squaring to two of his teammates went for glory but goalkeeper Ah-Kong blocked his shot.

St Michel extended their advantage in the 69th minute as Aly filtered a pass to Waye-Hive who beat the offside trap and lob the advancing goalkeeper Ah-Kong to make it 5-0 as he also completed his hat-trick.

St Francis should have reduced the arrears in the 73rd minute from Lahimpira’s free kick but captain Harry Libanotis could not direct a free header on target.

In the 80th minute, Waye-Hive bagged his fourth goal as Jocelyn picked up a long pass to bore on goal and cut the ball back to him and he tapped home for a 6-0 score.

In injury time, Aly was unlucky not to add a seventh goal as he played a brilliant one-two with Waye-Hive to open up the St Francis defence but Aly’s shot deflected off goalkeeper Ah-Kong and onto the crossbar before the danger was cleared.

St Michel though had won the points which were vital as they chase qualification for the semifinals.

“We were much superior to St Francis throughout this match but we put in a disappointing performance in the first half and showed more conviction in the second period. Despite resting some key players, it was important to win all the points,” manager Andrew Jean-Louis told Sports Nation.

As for St Francis coach Camille Gresle, he said he expected St Michel to overwhelm them after they held their own in the first half but could not sustain their opponents for more than an hour due to their physical level.

R. J-L.