Football: Barclays league division one - Varney double inspires The Lions to victory |29 October 2015

*Revengers stun La Passe

The Lions Liberian striker Mohamed Varney scored a brace to inspire his team to a 2-1 victory over Foresters at Stad Linite and on La Digue visitors Revengers stunned Airtel Cup champions La Passe 1-0 in two Barclays league division one matches on Tuesday.

The Lions beat Foresters

It was a much needed win for The Lions as it was only their second in the league in a match where they started brightly but almost conceded in the second minute with a long range effort from Ugandan striker Tonny Kizito which caught goalkeeper Raphael Moustache way off his line but fortunately for The Lions the ball landed on the roof of the net.

At the other end, Foresters goalkeeper, Cameroonian Frank Moutoni, had to rush out of his goal twice to clear the danger in the opening 10 minutes before the deadlock was broken in the 15th minute.

It all started from a poor clearance by goalkeeper Moutoni which was pounced on by Malagasy Clariel who quickly played the ball to Varney in the penalty area who made no mistake from close range to open the score for a 1-0 lead for The Lions.

The Lions should have gone two up in the 21st minute after a good interchange of play involving Varney and his countryman James Soto to release Clariel but the former St Louis striker decided to centre the ball when he should have gone for goal in a good scoring position.

In the 25th minute, Foresters, who had raised their game after falling behind, drew level after a strong run by Martin William to cross to the inrushing Kizito who buried the ball into the net to make it 1-1.

Varney forced a good save out of Moutoni in the 27th minute as he had to tip the ball onto the crossbar and into corner from a dipping free kick and two minutes later, the Foresters goalkeeper did even better as he threw himself at the ball to deny Clariel scoring with a diving header from Varney’s teasing cross.

Just past the half hour mark, Marlon Sophola combined with William for Foresters and his low shot was turned into corner by goalkeeper Moustache for The Lions.

The last chance of this entertaining first half fell to The Lions’ Soto as he was set up by Varney for a cracking shot from the edge of the penalty area and goalkeeper Moutoni made an equally fine flying save as this half ended at 1-1.

The second half saw the two teams play a more cautious approach with few goal-scoring opportunities but in the 57th minute, Foresters’ Kizito headed Malagasy Edgard Nandrasena’s free kick into the net but the goal was ruled out for a clear offside by assistant referee James Emile.

Controversy loomed in the 70th minute at the other end when assistant referee Gilbert Lusta signalled referee Emile Fred of an infringement as he adjudged that goalkeeper Moutoni had taken the goal kick out of his penalty area. The official awarded a free kick on the edge of the penalty area despite Foresters’ protest and Varney curled a beauty in the top corner to add insult to injury as he grabbed his fifth goal since his arrival last month to put his team 2-1 up.

Foresters had to throw everything into attack to try and avoid their second defeat on the trot and had a great chance to equalise in the 87th minute after Kizito had spread a pass to substitute Ron Rose who picked out Brian Dorby with his cross but he could not direct his free header on target to allow The Lions to claim all three points to move them into seventh position on the league standings while Foresters remain in third place.

The Lions coach Gavin Jeanne was just relieved they had secured a morale-boosting victory.

“We came into this match desperate for a win which have eluded us for a long time and we tried all the tricks in the trade to get all the points today and I think that luck which had deserted us for some time now was on our side today. We hope we can continue from here,” The Lions coach told Sports Nation.

As for Foresters coach Rodney Choisy, who had to patch up his defence due to injuries and suspension, he felt they gave a good account of themselves in this match but let themselves down with two costly mistakes.

“I’m disappointed with my goalkeeper as he gave away two goals which cost us the match as we had played well and deserved better against our opponents who were intent on wasting time,” the Foresters coach lamented.

Revengers stun La Passe

Praslin side Revengers travelled to La Digue on Tuesday and stunned Airtel Cup champions La Passe 1-0.

Malagasy Roger Nambintsoa continued his hot goal scoring streak as he netted the all-important goal in the 15th minute for a vital win for Revengers who climb to sixth on the league table with 12 points while La Passe are stuck in fifth position.

Revengers coach Basil Hoareau told Sports Nation they needed the three points to improve their league position and are now targeting the scalp of Northern Dynamo on Tuesday.

R. J-L.