Football: PillayR Group Cup - Tamboo scores hat-trick as 10-man St Louis sink Real Maldives |13 October 2016

 Ten-man St Louis reached the quarterfinal of the PillayR Group Cup competition inspired by a hat-trick by Elijah Tamboo to sink Real Maldives 4-0 at Stad Linite on Tuesday afternoon.

St Louis were always the favourites against this second division side coached by former St Michel and national team captain Don Anacoura who was pitting his wits against his former colleague Nigel Freminot.

St Louis went in search of an early goal in this encounter and went close in the 5th minute from Elijah Tamboo’s teasing cross to Carlos Siméon who was stopped from scoring by Real Maldives goalkeeper Madrid Adrienne’s intervention but the loose ball broke to Che Dorasamy whose stinging shot was heading for goal only for Real Maldives captain Terence Crea to clear the danger with his head on the goal line.

In the 9th minute, St Louis were reduced to 10 men when Siméon was shown a straight red card by referee Emile Fred for using abusive language towards the official after he felt hard done when he was not given a foul in his favour as he battled for the ball with defender Freddy Commettant.

The dismissal rattled St Louis and they almost conceded in the 19th minute after a series of defensive errors where they failed to clear the ball conveniently and it fell invitingly to Michael Cadeau but he also miscued with the goal at his mercy.

A minute later, Mario Dubel, who had a poor game for St Louis at right back, gave away a free kick with an ugly foul and from the resulting free kick taken by Marlon Rose, St Louis’ Malagasy goalkeeper Michel had to tip over the dipping ball.

St Louis then opened the scoring from a counter attack as the Real Maldives corner was cleared up field and Yannick Julie slipped a pass to Roddy Melanie, who looked to be marginally offside but it was not signaled and he kept his cool to place the ball far from goalkeeper Adrienne’s reach for a 1-0 lead.

St Louis again were let off the hook from another bad mistake by Dubel whose short back pass was latched onto by Aubrey Francourt who pulled the ball back to Cadeau but St Louis’ stand-in captain Jean-Paul Aglaé produced a last ditch tackle to save the day for his team and injured himself and had to be replaced seven minutes later with a leg injury and Bertrand Esther took over the captain’s armband.

St Louis stretched their advantage in the 42nd minute with a superb strike by Tamboo after Nadim Lucas had been penalised for a foul on Melanie on the edge of the penalty area and he curled a cracking shot into the top corner past a stranded goalkeeper Adrienne for a 2-0 score at half time.

Real Maldives tried to throw caution to the wind in the second period and should have done better in the 51st minute following St Louis substitute Travis Jerome’s mistake to let in Francourt who set up Cadeau but his shot lacked sting to trouble goalkeper Michel who saved easily.

As Real Maldives pushed forward, they were caught on a counter in the 58th minute as Melanie played the ball to Tamboo but goalkeeper Adrienne raced out of his goal to deny the St Louis striker though the ball fell to Collin Bibi whose attempted lob sailed disappointingly wide.

St Louis added a third goal in the 67th minute from Melanie’s cross to Bibi whose shot was blocked and the lurking Tamboo pounced onto the loose ball to tuck it home from close range for a 3-0 lead.

Two minutes later, captain Esther accidently handled in a dangerous position on the edge of the penalty area and Real Maldives’ Rose fired a rasping shot which was pushed over the crossbar by goalkeeper Michel.

St Louis sealed Real Maldives’ fate in the 91st minute after Tamboo was brought down just outside the penalty area and he picked himself up to thump the ball past a badly positioned goalkeeper Adrienne as he completed his hat-trick for a 4-0 emphatic victory which propels them to the quarterfinal of the PillayR Group Cup.

St Louis coach Nigel Freminot was just pleased his team had sailed through despite a not so impressive performance.

“We did not play to our best level but it did not matter as today the result was most important as our aim was to reach the next stage and so I will give credit to my players for this result though our opponents also put in a good resistance,” the St Louis coach told Sports NATION.

As for the Real Maldives coach Don Anacoura, he was more philosophical about the result as he looks to the future of his team.

“It was not a bad result for my team against a first division opponent but we still have a lot of work to do to improve,” coach Anacoura said.

R. J-L.