Football: Division one league |31 July 2017

Côte d’Or, St Michel, Foresters, Red Star Defence Forces victorious

Côte d’Or returned to the top of the league table with an emphatic 5-0 win over Anse Reunion on Friday and on the same day at Stad Linite, Northern Dynamo beat LightStars 3-0.

On Saturday, St Michel bounced back from defeat to edge The Lions 1-0 at Stad Linite. On the same day, Malagasy Jocelyn Fenosoa netted a hat-trick as his new team Red Star Defence Forces beat Revengers 3-0 at Stad Amitié and Foresters registered an important 2-1 away win over La Passe.

St Michel edge The Lions

St Michel returned to winning ways with a hard fought 1-0 victory over The Lions in a bad-tempered match on Saturday at Stad Linite.

St Michel gave a debut to their latest import, Nigerian Femi Orunnmi as they started brightly dominating the match.

The first chance came in the 7th minute from a free kick by Ernesto Doway which grazed the post of The Lions goalkeeper Jerome Dingwall.

The Lions, who were playing very defensively, had to replace the injured Antoine Charif in the 17th minute and in came Romial Oreddy against his former club.

St Michel broke the deadlock three minutes later from a free kick awarded by assistant Elderick Adelaide for a handball by The Lions defender, Malagasy Clariel, from Orunnmi’s cross.

The Lions coach Gavin Jeanne was not happy with this decision and he became more furious when Malagasy Hassan Aly floated the ball in the box and Orunnmi bundled the ball over the goal-line to make it 1-0.

Coach Jeanne made his frustration known to referee Kerens Yocette who, after an exchange of words, banished The Lions’ trainer to the stands and he took time before he gave in as he was furious with the officials.

The Lions had to change their game plan and went on the offensive and they should have equalised in the 33rd minute from a good exchange of passes by Rashim Padayachy and Denis Auguste to open up St Michel’s defence.

However, Padayachy shot weakly at goalkeeper Alvin Michel when he collected Auguste’s return pass to let St Michel off the hook.

Orunnmi also had a good chance to extend his team’s lead in the 37th minute from a pinpoint cross by Malagasy Benjamin Razakatiana but he guided his header narrowly wide for a 1-0 score at half-time.

The Lions brought on Christopher Derjacques in the second period as they pushed Malagasy Clariel into attack and they really gave their opponents a run for their money in this half.

Nonetheless, St Michel resisted the pressure and on the hour mark, Malagasy Aly, who was lucky to be still on the pitch, curled a free kick which captain Alex Nibourette met with a free header but goalkeeper Dingwall produced a good save to deny him.

The Lions were awarded a penalty in the 72nd minute as referee Kerens Yocette adjudged that Yannick Manou had pushed Clariel in the back as he went sprawling in the penalty area.

Padayachy took charge of the spot kick but goalkeeper Michel did brilliantly to push away the penalty to keep his team in the lead.

Three minutes later at the other end, referee Yocette showed inconsistency as he failed to award St Michel a penalty for clear handball against Derjacques who blocked Neil Confiance’s shot.

The Lions had another gilt edge opportunity to level matters in the 81st minute from substitute Yannick Charlette’s lobbed pass to Liberian striker Mohamed Varney but he failed to bury his close range shot in the net.

St Michel should have killed off the contest on the stroke of full-time from a counter as substitute Leeroy Mathiot released another substitute, Ghanaian Emmanuel Nuhey, who centred to Leeroy Corallie but he headed wide.

St Michel held on though to register an important win but the match ended on a bad note as The Lions’ Oreddy was red carded for aggressive behaviour as the two sets of players surrounded the officials before calm was restored.

The Lions coach though was not happy with the level of officiating which he felt affected this match.

“I feel the officials are officiating our opponents’ matches with fear which affect their performance and this is not right. As for the match, we had our chances but did not take them,” explained coach Jeanne.

As for St Michel manager Andrew Jean-Louis, he said it was vital to bounce back and was pleased with the triumph.

“It was important to win today to keep us in the title race in a high tempo match as we knew it was going to be a tough match though we had a good first half but our opponents made things difficult for us in the second, but we stood firm,” reflected the St Michel manager.

Red Star Defence Forces beat Revengers

Red Star Defence Forces beat Revengers 3-0 at Stad Amitié on Saturday courtesy of a hat-trick by Malagasy Jocelyn Fenosoa.

After a goalless first half, the former St Michel striker put his team ahead at 1-0 and added two more goals to complete his hat-trick as he has now scored four goals in two matches for the army team.

The victory, the second in a row, has helped to move them off the foot of the table and they now lie in 10th position.

Foresters surprise La Passe

Foresters registered an important 2-1 win over La Passe on Saturday afternoon at the l’Union playing field on La Digue.

Ryan Henriette gave Mont Fleuri-based Foresters a 1-0 lead before Brian Dorby headed home a second goal for a 2-0 lead at the interval.

Malagasy Fredo reduced the arrears to 1-2 from the penalty spot in the second half but it was not enough to stop them from suffering their fifth league loss this season.

Côte d’Or demolish Anse Reunion

Reigning league champions Côte d’Or demolished La Digue side Anse Reunion 5-0 at Stad Amitié on Friday evening to return to the top of the league.

Côte d’Or opened the floodgates as early as the 5th minute through Ryan Antat and five minutes later, Malagasy Voavy Faralahibe made it 2-0.

New Nigerian forward Godwin Okwara extended the league leaders’ advantage to 3-0 two minutes in the second period before Voavy, the younger brother of well-known striker Amisy who once played for La Passe, grabbed his brace in the 50th minute.

Nigerian substitute, Peter Adeshina, completed a miserable afternoon for the players of coach Ted Esther as he got on the scoresheet to round off the scoring at 5-0 in the 78th minute to propel his team to the summit of the league table.

Northern Dynamo down LightStars

Northern Dynamo defeated Praslin outfit LightStars comfortably 3-0 at Stad Linite on Friday evening with a brace from Malagasy Rajamana.

Gambian Musa Njie put the players of coach Cliff Nolin 1-0 up in the 24th minute with a fierce shot past goalkeeper Romeo Barra for a 1-0 lead at the interval.

Deadly Malagasy Rajamana, who has just returned to full fitness from injury, stretched the Glacis-based team’s lead to 2-0 in the 47th minute and bagged his brace in the 81st minute to seal a 3-0 win as they bounced back from a loss to St Louis the previous weekend.

R. J-L