Football: Division one league Red Star Defence Forces defeat Northern Dynamo to go top |09 June 2018

Red Star Defence Forces defeated Northern Dynamo 3-1 at Stad Linite on Thursday afternoon in a first division league encounter to go top of the log.

Red Star Defence Forces were without their top scorer, Malagasy Jocelyn Fenosoa, for this match as he is out of the country for personal reasons while defender Warren Mellie was ineligible to play against his former team that linger at the foot of the league table.

The league leaders made a bright start as they broke the deadlock in this match in the 10th minute when Erol Bacco raced onto a through ball to rifle it low past Cameroonian goalkeeper Frank Moutoni for a 1-0 lead.

For many Red Star Defence Forces supporters, they felt that this would have opened the floodgates but it was a different reaction as their team slackened allowing Northern Dynamo to control the match and create numerous scoring opportunities.

Six minutes after going behind, Northern Dynamo almost levelled matters from Aldo Dufresne’s cross to Gambian forward Musa Njie whose strong shot produced a good save out of goalkeeper Jerome Dingwall.

Two minutes later, Malagasy Rajamana curled in a beautiful free kick which the Red Star Defence Forces goalkeeper pushed onto the post.

Red Star then countered in the 21st minute as Bacco broke clear on the right to set up Malagasy Jean Tigana on the edge of the penalty area and his low shot came off the foot of the post.

Northern Dynamo’s Gambian player Musa though was denied twice at the other end as his team pressed hard for an equaliser which came in the 43rd minute. It all started from some good skill by Lucas Panayi who left defender Kenner Nourrice in his wake to send an inch-perfect cross to Rajamana who headed past goalkeeper Dingwall for a 1-1 score at half-time.

The second half was a different scenario as Red Star Defence Forces made a couple of substitutions, bringing on their new recruit, striker Ryan Henriette who joined from Foresters while Northern Dynamo sent on Basil Bertin who has returned to his stomping ground from St Michel.

Red Star Defence Forces had the upper hand in this half and in 51st minute, Malagasy Michel Nambintsoa slipped a pass to Tigana but he shot narrowly wide in a good scoring position.

Henriette almost opened his account for his new team in the 55th minute as he latched onto a lucky break but goalkeeper Frank Moutoni was quick off his line to deny him.

Red Star Defence Forces went ahead again in this match on the hour mark minutes after Bacco had missed a sitter but this time Tigana’s cross was half cleared by Panayi to Darwind Rosette whose instinctive left footed shot found refuge in the bottom corner for a 2-1 advantage for Red Star Defence Forces.

Red Star Defence Forces added a third goal three minutes later as Tigana played a one-two with Nambintsoa before flashing a cross across the face of Northern Dynamo goal and substitute Barry Marie slotted the ball past goalkeeper Moutoni for a 3-1 lead.

Northern Dynamo came back in the latter minutes and in the 77th minute, Terry Estico picked out Rajamana with a decent cross and the Malagasy striker’s downward header was tipped over the crossbar by goalkeeper Dingwall.

Controversy loomed large on the stroke of full time when Rajamana surged into the Red Star Defence Forces penalty area and was pulled down for a crystal clear penalty but amazingly referee Emile Fred failed to blow his whistle, a decision which really infuriated the Northern Dynamo bench who raced to the bye-line and one of their team officials walked onto the pitch as play had to be stopped. After consulting with the fourth official, referee Fred ordered the official off the bench but the argument continued after the match as Northern Dynamo were angry with the official claiming that they are not being treated fairly and this was echoed by their coach Cliff Nolin when he spoke to Sports NATION after the match.

“We played well after conceding an early goal but in the second half we gave our opponents too much time on the ball as we failed to close them down which may be due to lack of fitness but we are also very unhappy with the official as this is the case in most of our matches where we are being hard done by their decisions against us and today we were denied a clear penalty which is very frustrating, especially in our position when we are searching for points,” coach Nolin said.

As for Red Star Defence Forces manager Philip Barbé, he said his team knew that their opponents were going to make life difficult for them but were just happy they managed to overcome them to claim the points.

“We knew that it was going to be a tough match against an opponent who always give their best against top teams and we grew a bit complacent after taking the lead. But we reshuffled the pack after the break and we played better in the second half and scored the goals to help us win all the points,” the Red Star Defence Forces manager explained as his team went top of the league standings with 24 points while Northern Dynamo stay rooted to the foot of the table.

R. J-L.