Football: Barclays league division one - Foresters win to be joint leaders |19 October 2015

Foresters won 2-1 against Northern Dynamo at Stad Linite in a Barclays league match on Friday afternoon to share the lead at the top of the standings with St Michel and Côte d’Or at the end of the first round.

Foresters took the lead in this open match in the fourth minute from Ugandan forward Tonny Kizito who just managed to hold off the challenge of goalkeeper Jules Monnaie to sneak the ball into the net for a 1-0 score from Richard Servina’s centre.

Dynamo equalised in the seventh minute courtesy of a horrendous mistake by reserve Foresters goalkeeper Ryan Jules who allowed Marcus Maria’s shot to go through his legs to make it 1-1.

In the 20th minute, Dynamo captain Basil Bertin saw his header from Malagasy Rajomanana’s corner pushed onto the post by goalkeeper Jules.

Foresters’ second goal in the 28th minute had an element of controversy as most people in the stadium felt Francis Nourrice was clearly offside when he fired home a loose ball after goalkeeper Monnaie had spilled Kizito’s shot from Servina’s cutback. But assistant referee Eldrick Adelaide was convinced he was onside and the goal stood and it turned out to be the winner.

Foresters’ captain Godfrey Denis had a great chance to make it 3-1 in the 35th minute from another decent cross by Servina but he shot over the crossbar.

The second half was not as action-packed and Foresters managed to maintain their lead to end the first round on 19 points – the same total as St Michel and Côte d’Or – which is quite a good feat for them in their first season in the first division.

Coach Rodney Choisy was quite satisfied with the result as they had targeted a win to put them at the top of the league.

“We wanted to win this match to help us end the first round at the top of the league which is quite a good morale-booster for the players and management and now we will try to consolidate our position,” coach Choisy told Sports Nation.

As for Dynamo coach Cliff Nolin, he felt his players were too casual in their approach and lacked aggressivity but also blamed the official for the second Foresters’ goal which he thought was clearly offside.

R. J-L.