Football: Barclays league division one - St Louis Suns win at last |17 November 2014

. The Lions and Revengers still not safe

St Louis Suns returned to winning ways while The Lions and Revengers are still battling to pull out of the play-off zone after defeat during the weekend matches in the Barclays league division one.

St Louis Suns beat Anse Reunion 3-1, while The Lions lost 0-1 to Northern Dynamo and Revengers were edged 0-1 by La Passe.

Ten-man St Louis Suns too strong for Anse Reunion

St Louis Suns defeated La Digue-based Anse Reunion 3-1 at Stad Linite despite playing with 10 men for most of the second half after Dereck Agathine was sent off for dissent.

However, Anse Reunion should have put this match to bed in the first half where they were in total control and their opponents were out of sorts.

In the 13th minute, Roderick Rose whipped in a teasing cross to Malagasy Fagnorena Farampin and St Louis Suns goalkeeper Jalyl Servina came out but did not reach the ball as the Malagasy striker flicked a header over him but the ball flew over the crossbar.

On the half hour mark, Fagnorena chased a long ball which St Louis Suns captain Bertrand Esther failed to clear, but the former La Passe attacker blazed his shot over the crossbar when he should have merely lobbed the advancing goalkeeper Servina.

Anse Reunion’s best chance came in the 33rd minute when Stenio Ernesta sneaked in behind the St Louis Suns defence to collect a loose ball but he fired wide with the goal at his mercy.

St Louis nearly stole the lead on the stroke of half time against the run of play from a short corner between Nigerian Kazeem Sulaimon and Roddy Melanie with the latter lofting the ball to Nigerian Kazeem Adeyeri whose header was heading for the net but came off a defender to roll into corner.
The second half saw St Louis Suns show more purpose and in the 49th minute Sulaimon did well to flash a ball across the face of goal to Melanie who thumped it on goal but goalkeeper Ricky Rose did well to block the shot.

In the 55th minute though, St Louis Suns were reduced to 10 men when Agathine protested to referee Emile Fred after he was the victim of a crunching tackle. But the official booked him for his over-the-top complaint and when he continued to argue, he was shown a second yellow and received his marching orders.

St Louis Suns though coped well with this man shortage as they broke the deadlock in the 55th minute as Melanie latched onto a through ball to shoot at goalkeeper Rose but the ball rolled under his body to hit the post and fall nicely to Adeyeri who rammed the loose ball home for a 1-0 lead.

St Louis Suns stretched their advantage just past the hour mark from another short corner involving Sulaimon and Melanie who floated the ball into the penalty area where Nigerian Oladele Bolarinwa Olamiti blasted it into the roof of the net to make it 2-0.

Anse Reunion reduced the arrears three minutes later as Sulaimon carelessly lost the ball to Stenio Ernesta who quickly released Fagnorena. St Louis Suns’ Danny Madeleine tracked Fagnorena but he mistimed his tackle allowing the Anse Reunion forward to race clear and he fired past goalkeeper Servina for a 1-2 score.
Sulaimon should have re-established St Louis Suns two-goal cushion in the 70th minute when he skipped a couple of tackles to come face to face with goalkeeper Rose but he made a mess of this clear chance.
In the 81st minute, Sulaimon made amends as he drilled a strong free kick which took a wicked deflection off Anse Reunion’s Malagasy captain Eddy to find refuge in the net as goalkeeper Rose was wrong footed for a 3-1 lead.
Surprisingly this was Sulaimon’s last contribution as he was pulled off but he had helped his team to return to winning ways after being without a victory for more than two months.

La Passe edge Revengers

La Digue side and Barclays league runners-up La Passe edged Praslin’s Revengers 1-0 on La Digue on Saturday.
Without five of their regular players, Revengers held La Passe goalless in the first half and it was a similar story in the second as this match was heading for a draw.
But La Passe scored the only goal of the match in the 87th minute from Stan Fanchette’s teasing cross which took a deflection off Revengers’ Aubrey Suzette to beat his own goalkeeper Jean-Michel Marie for a 1-0 victory.
It was a disappointing end for Revengers who were desperate for at least a point to secure their first division status.

Côte d’Or v LightStars

On Praslin, the torrential rain forced this Praslin derby between Côte d’Or and LightStars to be abandoned on account of a waterlogged pitch. The match will now be rescheduled for a later date.

Dynamo beat The Lions to secure survival

Northern Dynamo edged The Lions 1-0 at Stad Linite on Friday afternoon to secure survival in the top flight.
Both teams were desperate for the points to improve their league standing as they lie in the play-off zone.

Dynamo therefore made a flying start in this hard-fought match as they took the lead in the 16th minute from a great approach play. Warren Mellie picked up a long ball to cut inside and feed Aldo Dufresne who intelligently flicked the ball into the path of Malagasy Asman Todisoa on the edge of the penalty area.

Todisoa made space to fire a low shot which beat goalkeeper Jerome Dingwall for a 1-0 lead for Dynamo.

Todisoa should have made it 2-0 three minutes later from a superb cross by Marcus Maria across the face of The Lions’ goal but he just failed to connect.

In the 23rd minute, Dynamo again went close from Maria’s in-swinging free kick which dropped to Dufresne and Mellie at the back post where they looked suspiciously offside which was not signaled. Mellie though saw his header come off the crossbar as The Lions rode their luck.

The Lions lost striker Darrel Damou with a leg injury with 10 minutes remaining in the first half but went close to leveling matters in injury time.

It all started from Malagasy Herizo Razaparany’s corner which captain Gino Agathine got a touch to Clariel whose header was pushed as far as Dennis Auguste but he could not hit the target from close range.

The Lions had to raise their level in the second period as they opted to play three at the back and pushed more men into attack.

However, Dynamo nearly caught them on the counter in the 49th minute as Todisoa released Dufresne who raced clear but his low shot brought a good save out of goalkeeper Dingwall.

The Lions huffed and puffed but did not manage to create a clear chance except for substitute Laurent Vel’s curling free kick in the 81st minute which flew agonisingly wide.

The win helped Dynamo to leapfrog from ninth place to sixth position in the league and have almost guaranteed their first division status while The Lions remain in the play-off zone.

R. J-L.