Football: Airtel Cup - St Louis and The Lions share the spoils |05 August 2016

The Lions and St Louis shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw at Stad Linite on Wednesday evening in an Airtel group A match.

The Lions had a glorious opportunity though to make a dream start in this encounter where both teams had re-shuffled their pack as they are in action again over the weekend.

There was only 27 seconds on the clock after kick off when The Lions’ new recruit Alvin Williams threaded a pass to Laurent Vel whose inch-perfect cross fell to the unmarked captain-for-the-day Darrel Damou at the far post but he inexplicably headed wide with the goal at his mercy.

This narrow escape was a wake-up call for St Louis who then went on to control the match as they enjoyed plenty of possession as The Lions struggled to find their rhythm.

St Louis opened the scoring in the 18th minute from some good approach play as Elijah Tamboo fed Nigerian Kazeem Adeyeri who showed great skill on the edge of the penalty area with his back to the goal to turn and leave Malagasy defender Clariel in his wake with a brilliant move and then he rifled the ball past The Lions reserve goalkeeper Raphael Moustache for a 1-0 lead, much to the delight of the St Louis fans who have yet to see the best from their top scorer.

St Louis were buzzing with some neat passing movements and in the 38th minute captain Mervin Mathiot linked up with Tamboo who eluded the tackle of Clariel and flashed a centre across the face of goal but Adeyeri was slow to react as The Lions rode their luck.

The Lions’ only attempt at goal again in this half came in the 40th minute from Liberian front man Mohamed Varney whose free kick from 25 metres out sailed just over the crossbar.

St Louis should have added to the scoreline on the stroke of half-time when Tamboo and captain Mathiot exchanged passes to open The Lions’ defence but Tamboo instead of going for goal decided to set up his skipper and thus fluffed a great opportunity as Mathiot had strayed offside.

The Lions shook off their lethargy in the second half as they came out ready for the battle and stunned their opponents only two minutes after the re-start from Liberian James Soto’s free kick which he floated into the St Louis penalty area and there was Laurent Vel whose glancing header found refuge into the net to make it 1-1 with St Louis Malagasy goalkeeper Michel left rooted to the spot.

St Louis had to lift their game as both teams showed an eagerness to attack in search of a second goal and the players of coach Nigel Freminot went close in the 55th minute from captain Mathiot’s corner which was met by Che Dorasamy at the near post but his flick header dropped on the roof of the net.

Both teams huffed and puffed in a very physical match which unfortunately referee Egbert Havelock struggled to control as he failed to stem out some rough play and was inconsistent in dishing out cards and awarding of fouls for infringements which frustrated both the crowd and the players.

St Louis though had two decent opportunities to seal victory late in the match when firstly in the 85th minute, substitute Travis Laurence sent a cross to Adeyeri who could not direct his header on target under pressure from The Lions defenders.

However, Tamboo will rue himself for not grabbing the winner for his team’s second match running after netting the winning goal against St John Bosco last week. It all happened in the 87th minute when Bertrand Esther played a long ball to captain Mathiot who was unmarked in the centre of The Lions’ defence but his control let him down but the ball dropped invitingly to the lurking Tamboo who inexplicably blasted it over the cross bar from close range with only goalkeeper Moustache to beat.

This fiercely contested match sadly ended on a bad note when deep in injury time Dorasamy played a quick free kick to Adeyeri who got the better of Clariel but collided with goalkeeper Moustache who had dived at his feet to deny him a strike at goal and he injured himself. The game was held up for almost five minutes as goalkeeper Moustache received treatment and even when it resumed, The Lions custodian was not well recovered and referee Havelock quite sensibly blew for the end of the match but it was a decision which did not go down well with the St Louis players and fans who questioned the official’s judgment but in the end both teams had to be content with a share of the points.

St Louis coach Freminot was left a bit disappointed with his players for not securing all the points to boost morale ahead of a tough encounter on Saturday against high flying Foresters.

“We played well in the first half and were in control but then a lapse in concentration after the break cost us a goal but still we had chances to win so we must work harder to improve our finishing,” the St Louis coach told Sports Nation.

R. J-L