St Louis stutter past Red Star Defence Forces |07 September 2017

League leaders St Louis stuttered past Red Star Defence Forces on a 1-0 victory at Stad Linite on Tuesday afternoon in front of a large crowd in the first leg of the Airtel Cup semifinal.

Red Star Defence Forces deserved better from this pulsating encounter as they drew first blood as early as the second minute when Malagasy Michel Nambintsoa collected a cross-field pass to shoot low at goalkeeper Michel who saved.

St Louis responded in the 8th minute from Gervais Waye-Hive’s free-kick which was met by an onrushing Collin Bibi but his near post shot flew narrowly wide.

In the 19th minute, Waye-Hive swung in a teasing free-kick at the back post to Nigerian striker Kazeem Adeyeri but he failed to connect and ended in the Res Star Defence Forces’ net.

Red Star Defence Forces had one of their assistant coaches namely, Bernard St Ange, sent to the stands by referee Egbert Havelock after assistant referee James Emile brought his behaviour from the bench to Havelock’s attention in the 25th minute.

On the half hour mark, Red Star Defence Forces’ Malagasy striker Jocelyn Fenosoa capitalised on a mistake by Jude Nancy to set up Nambintsoa who fired at goalkeeper Michel who was equal to the task as the match swung back and forth.

Two minutes later at the other end Waye-Hive weaved his way into the Red Star Defence Forces penalty area and was knocked off the ball by Kenner Nourrice in what looked like a penalty but instead referee Havelock gave a corner.

From the resulting corner floated by Waye-Hive, the ball dropped invitingly to Elijah Tamboo after goalkeeper Danny Larue came out and failed to collect the ball. Tamboo drilled the ball on target but defender James Larue cleared the goal-bound shot on his goalline to keep the match scoreless.

In the 34th minute, St Louis suffered a setback when captain Bertrand Esther and his defensive partner Damien Maria had a clash of heads, where the latter had to be replaced, and in came Henny Dufresne to play alongside Esther.

Eight minutes later, St Louis should have broken the deadlock from a wonderful cross by Jude Nancy to Adeyeri who rose high above the Red Star Defence Forces backline but his header flew inches wide of the goal post.

Red Star Defence Forces went even closer a minute later from a long range free kick by Jocelyn which crashed against the crossbar before the danger was cleared.

St Louis then took the lead in the 42nd minute from a counter-attack after Bibi released Tamboo who galloped down the line before putting in a fantastic cross to Adeyeri who stabbed the ball into the roof of the net to make it 1-0 at half-time.

Red Star Defence Forces came out with all guns blazing in the second half as St Louis went on the defensive and tried to soak the pressure and play on the counter.

The army team should have levelled matters in the 56th minute from a superb through ball by Carlos Mondon to Jocelyn but goalkeeper Michel raced out quickly to block the ball.

St Louis nearly added a second goal in the 64thminute after Tahiry and Jude Nancy combined to open up their opponents and when Tahiry floated the ball at the far post to Waye-Hive, his shot was blocked but the rebound felt to Adeyeri who let fly a fierce shot and defender Nourrice threw himself to stop the goal-bound shot and was knocked out by the force of the shot. But after receiving treatment Nourrice was back in action as his team carried the game to St Louis.

Jocelyn had a couple of free kicks in good position as St Louis conceded cheap fouls but for once he was not as sharp with his shooting as he was against The Lions last week.

The players of coach Errol Hoareau should have levelled the score in the 90th minute from Jocelyn’s floated corner but Malagasy Michel Nambintsoa’s glancing header rolled narrowly wide.

Nambintsoa had an even better chance with virtually the last kick of added time as Jocelyn bore forward and picked him out with a beautiful pass but the former Revengers midfielder volleyed wide with the goal at his mercy and St Louis edged this away leg and the two teams will meet again this Friday in search of a place in the final.

St Louis coach Nigel Freminot was just relieved his team had won this match and wants them to finish the job in the second leg.

“I’m satisfied with our performance in the first half, though we had to keep our opponents at bay as they came at us in the second half. But we do have the upper hand and once again we will try to avoid conceding in the next match,” coach Freminot told Sports NATION.

As for the army team’s manager Philip Barbé, he was proud of his team’s display and thought they could have even won this first leg.

“I must congratulate my team for a good performance and also for what we have achieved in a short while. We created a lot of chances today which could have helped us to win but we will try to improve our result in the second leg,” the Red Star-Defence Forces manager related to Sports NATION after the match.

 R. J-L

 Action from Tuesday’s match between Red Star Defence Forces and St Louis