Football: Barclays league division one - St Michel, St Louis, Côte d’Or win |17 August 2015

Reigning Barclays league division one champions St Michel began the defence of their crown with a hard fought 1-0 victory over The Lions last Thursday while St Louis beat Foresters 2-1 on Friday and Côte D’Or sneaked past Revengers 1-0 on the same day.

Meanwhile, Airtel Cup winners La Passe dropped vital points in their opening match as they drew 1-1 with LightStars on Friday on La Digue.

Bright start for St Michel

St Michel made a bright start to the defence of their title as they defeated The Lions 1-0 at Stad linite despite playing most of the second half with 10 men after their Malagasy defender Leonard Besabotsy was shown a straight red card in the 53rd minute for a reckless tackle on Laurent Vel and referee Alistair Barra dished out the red card.

St Michel though had already taken the lead in the 29th minute with a cracking strike by Carl Hall which had goal written all over it as it crashed into the net for a 1-0 lead at half-time.

The Lions tried to push for an equaliser but it was the players of coach Ralph Jean-Louis who went closest to add a second in the 77th minute as footballer of the year Gervais Waye-Hive combined with Hall and saw his shot rebound off the post as they began the campaign with a morale-boosting win.

St Louis beat Foresters

St Louis had to come from behind in this match to beat newly promoted Foresters 2-1 in a bruising encounter.

The Mont Fleuri-based team had taken the lead in the 25th minute with a sweet volley by Francis Nourrice which flew past goalkeeper Jalyl Servina for a 1-0 score.

St Louis though came back strongly as they levelled matters on the half hour mark from a good build-up play involving Nigerian Kazeem Adeyeri and he played the ball to Elijah Tamboo who fed Bertrand Esther who easily tapped into the net past Cameroonian goalkeeper Franck Moutoni for a 1-1 score.

St Louis went ahead in the  44th minute from captain Mervin Mathiot’s floated corner kick and surprisingly goalkeeper Moutoni rushed out of his goal but missed the ball allowing Nigerian forward Kazeem Sulaimon to head into an empty net to make it 2-1 at half-time.

Foresters came all out in the second period to redress the balance but it was St Louis who had chances to extend their lead but Adeyeri failed to plant a free header in a gaping goal from Roddy Melanie’s cross in the 53rd minute.

St Louis frustrated their opponents with their delaying tactics but they were furious with referee Emile Fred who denied them a blatant penalty in the 87th minute after Foresters captain Godfrey Denis brought down Melanie but the official could not be bothered especially after minutes earlier, he did not stop play when captain Mathiot lay on the floor with a hand injury and had to be replaced.

The hard-earned win pleased coach Patrick Cafrine as he said their aim was to start with a win and he felt his team played well in the first half in this tough opening match.

As for Foresters coach Rodney Choisy, he was as expected disappointed especially as he said his team played poorly in the first half and despite improving in the second period, they had nothing to show for their effort.

Ten-man Côte d’Or edge Revengers

Ten-man Côte d’Or edged neighbours Revengers 1-0 on Thursday at the Amitié Stadium on Praslin.

Côte d’Or defender Gervais Saminadin was given his marching orders by referee Kerens Yocette in the fifth minute for violent conduct but his teammates did not let this expulsion affect them as they took the lead in the 36th minute through their Malagasy playmaker Jean Tigana for 1-0 advantage at the break.

Côte d’Or managed to keep their opponents at bay in the second period to register a 1-0 victory to collect all three points.

La Passe and LightStars draw

Airtel Cup winners La Passe dropped vital points in their opening match in the Barclays league division one as they drew 1-1 with LightStars on Friday on La Digue.

LightStars had even taken the lead through Malagasy Haja for a 1-0 score but it did not last for long as Collin Bibi levelled things before half-time for a final score of 1-1 as both teams had to be content with a share of the spoils.

R. J-L.