Football: Barclays league division one |21 September 2015

St Michel, Côte d’Or, Foresters, The Lions victorious

Barclays league division one champions St Michel edged La Digue outfit La Passe 1-0 at Stad Linite on Saturday while on Praslin, Côte d’Or defeated St Louis 2-1 to go joint top with St Michel.

On the same day, The Lions got a brace from new Liberian recruit James Soto Roberts to collect their first win on a 2-1 score against hosts Anse Reunion, while on Friday Foresters edged past Revengers on a 2-0 score.

St Michel inflict first defeat on La Passe

St Michel narrowly beat La Passe in a match that did not live up to expectation as it was not a classic though the Anse Aux Pins-based team were slightly the better side and showed more purpose in attack.

The match started late due to the lack of officials and it finally went ahead after referee Bernard Camille had to take the flag as assistant referee and Emile Fred took over as the main official.

St Michel created a nice move as early as the third minute when Nelson Laurence combined with Trevor Vidot to set up Malagasy Jocelyn but he blazed over and seven minutes later the same Jocelyn forced a good save out of goalkeeper Dave Mussard.

In the 18th minute, Leeroy Corallie latched onto a long ball to lob goalkeeper Mussard but defender Laurel Ladouce cleared the ball on the goal-line as La Passe rode their luck.

La Passe, who did not look their best, should have stolen the lead in the 25th minute. Collin Bibi raced clear when he was yards offside but was not signaled by assistant referee Hansley Petrousse but he could not beat goalkeeper Gino Melanie who did well to block his shot.

St Michel had another chance in the 36th minute from a long range effort by Malagasy Hassan Aly which seemed to have beaten goalkeeper Mussard if not for an outstretched arm to deflect the ball into corner as the first half finished scoreless.

St Michel went in search of goals in the second half as La Passe tried to play on the counter and in the 85th minute Jocelyn fired a loose ball at goalkeeper Mussard who was alert to the danger.

St Michel finally broke the deadlock in the 87th minute from a high ball by Laurence into the penalty area which goalkeeper Mussard pushed as far as Carl Hall and he kept his cool to drill the ball low into the net for a 1-0 score. The goal delighted the decent crowd present for this match as St Michel managed to break La Passe’s unbeaten run so far this season and move to the top of the Barclays league standing with 13 points – the same total as Côte d’Or who boast an inferior goal difference.

St Michel manager Andrew Jean-Louis was pleased with the win in a match where they had to dig deep to secure all the points.

“We deserved all the points as we were the better team and we knew we were going to score as we created quite a few chances though we still need to improve our performance,” St Michel manager Andrew Jean-Louis told Sports Nation.

As for La Passe coach Bruno Saindini, he felt his team tried but were not good enough on the day and will have to go back to the drawing board as the Airtel Cup winners suffered their first loss this season in local competitions.

Côte d’Or ease past St Louis

St Louis lost their top position as they went down 1-2 on Praslin at the Amitié Stadium on Saturday against Côte d’Or who moved into second place on the log.

Côte d’Or had to bounce back after their shocking loss to Foresters and they took the lead as early as the ninth minute through Dine Suzette to lead 1-0 at the break.

St Louis leveled matters in the 54th minute as they were awarded a penalty by referee Kerens Yocette for a handball by Côte d’Or’s Malagasy defender Jimmy Radafison and Nigerian Kazeem Adeyeri scored to make it 1-1.

Côte d’Or also won a penalty in the 84th minute from another handball incident this time involving St Louis captain Bertrand Esther and Malagasy Jean Tigana stepped up to tuck home the spot kick to give his team all the points.

The Lions secure first league win

The Lions secured their first league win as they came from behind to condemn bottom club Anse Reunion to a 2-1 defeat on La Digue on Saturday.

Malagasy Estel Randria scored his third goal in as many matches to put Anse Reunion 1-0 up in the 15th minute but The Lions’ new Liberian recruit James Soto Roberts levelled the score just past the half hour mark for a 1-1 score at half-time.

Soto Roberts got his brace as he netted again in the 61st minute to give the players of coach Gavin Jeanne their first league win in five attempts while Anse Reunion lost for the fifth time in as many matches to lie at the foot of the league table.

Foresters ease past Revengers

Foresters moved into fourth position on the league standings with a 2-0 win on Praslin on Friday against Revengers.

Martin William got on the scoresheet in the first half for a 1-0 advantage and Ugandan striker Tony Kizito secured the points in the second period for a 2-0 triumph for Foresters who play league leaders St Michel tomorrow.

R. J-L.