Football: Barclays league division one |11 June 2007

St Michel, Anse Reunion and Côte d’Or drop points, LightStars win

Defending Barclays league division one champions St Michel shared an interesting 2-2 draw against St Louis Suns on Saturday at Stad Linite while on La Digue Anse Reunion also had to be content with a point against The Lions in a 1-1 draw.  On Praslin, LightStars defeated St Roch 4-2 and on Friday, Côte d’Or drew 1-1 against 10-man St Francis.

St Michel draw with St Louis Suns

St Michel had to come from behind to earn a point against St Louis Suns in a 2-2 draw in a match which had attracted quite a good crowd and referee Jean Claude Labrosse had a good game as the official was not the main talking point this time.

St Michel’s good form continued as they struck in the opening minute of play from a poor clearance by Marlon Asba.  The ball was played to Alex Nibourette whose teasing cross was fired home by Nigel Hoareau at the far post for a sensational 1-0 lead.

St Michel almost added a second in the 7th minute when defender Steve Henriette miscued Nibourette’s centre and it fell to Hoareau who shot narrowly wide.
Five minutes later, St Louis Suns were on level term from Malagasy Falinirina’s free-kick and St Michel goalkeeper Gino Melanie missed the ball allowing Steve Henriette to toe-poke the ball over the line to make it 1-1.

St Michel almost restored their lead in the 20th minute as Gervais Waye-Hive latched onto a through ball and Asba failed to cut out the danger letting the St Michel midfielder in but goalkeeper Joel Lesperance was quick off his line to block the danger.

It was an end-to-end match with St Louis Suns having a slight edge and they even took the lead on the half hour mark from a neat build-up involving Farinirina whose crossfield pass was pounced onto by his colleague Clariel.  Clariel out-sped Allen Larue before sending an inch-perfect cross to captain Mervin Mathiot whose instinctive header was parried by goalkeeper Melanie. Captain Mathiot got a second bite of the cherry to blast his shot into the net for a 2-1 score much to the delight the St Louis Suns fans.

However, St Louis Suns then fell back allowing St Michel to come at them and in the 32nd minute captain Don Anacoura threaded a pass to Waye-Hive but goalkeeper Lesperance raced out to thwart the danger.

In the 42nd minute, goalkeeper Lesperance produced a great finger-tip save to turn the ball into corner from Malagasy Hassan Aly’s dipping free-kick.
On the stroke of half-time goalkeeper Lesperance produced another point-blank save to keep out Waye-Hive from equalising.

In the second half, both teams changed their line-up as captain Mathiot could not continue through injury and Fabien Cadeau came on, while St Michel brought on striker Leeroy Corallie for Trevor Vidot.

St Louis Suns had a gilt-edge opportunity in the 52nd minute as Alex Dugasse and Steven Henriette combined for the former Dynamo defender to fire at goalkeeper Melanie who pushed out the ball.
Two minutes later, Farinirina latched onto a long ball but he rifled wide a clear chance and in the 57th minute the Malagasy player’s free-kick was turned away by goalkeeper Melanie as far as Henriette but he drilled his shot across goal.

St Michel then raised their game as St Louis Suns back-pedaled.
In the 65th minute, substitute Leeroy Corallie should have done better as he stooped low to meet Waye-Hive’s free kick and six minutes later he converted substitute Darwin Rosette’s in-swinging corner to level matters at 2-2.

St Michel then went in search of a winner and in the 80th minute Corallie’s header from Waye-Hive’s cross hit the post as St Louis Suns rode their luck.
Six minutes later, the crossbar once again saved St Louis Suns as Malagasy Jimmy Radafison’s header from Waye-Hive’s corner ricocheted off it as the match ended in a stalemate.
St Michel manager Andrew Jean-Louis told Sports Nation that he was satisfied with the result in a balanced match.

As for St Louis Suns assistant coach Patrick Cafrine, he echoed the same sentiment of satisfaction with the point though he added that they had wanted to win this match over their rivals.

Ten-man St Francis draw with Côte d’Or

Ten-man St Francis played out a 1-1 draw against Praslin outfit Côte d’Or on Friday evening.
This match though was marred in controversy as referee Alistair Barra was guilty of some poor mistakes which affected the final result.
As expected Côte d’Or wanted to win to return to the top of the league standings and to make up for their disappointing Airtel Cup final loss the previous weekend.
In the 21st minute, Collin Esther pounced on a mistake by Malagasy Malamo Ducaud but could not hit the target.

On the half hour mark, after his team St Francis had absorbed a lot of pressure, Stephane Barallon countered and released Malagasy Branly Zizi who forced a good save out of goalie Kitson Cecile.
In the 32nd minute, Côte d’Or again went close from Malagasy Jean Tigana’s corner but Collin Esther’s glancing header flew agonisingly wide.

Three minutes later at the other end on another swift counter Branly Zizi returned the favour to Barallon whose low shot was turned into corner by goalkeeper Cecile.

Côte d’Or’s Marcus Labiche will rue himself for wasting a glorious opening in the 42nd minute from a superb through-ball by Malagasy Patrick Rasaminana but his control let him down with the goal at his mercy.

The Praslin side were made to pay as St Francis opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time when Stan Fanchette filtered a pass to Barallon who burst through to slot the ball between the advancing goalkeeper Cecile’s legs for a 1-0 lead.

Côte d’Or came out with all guns blazing in the second period and in the 50th minute Bernard St Ange picked out Labiche but once again he made a meal of his shot.
A minute later, St Francis’ Branly Zizi pounced on Benoit Marie’s clumsy mistake to race on goal but he shot in the side-netting, thus fluffing a great chance.

Côte d’Or continued to push forward but in the 76th minute there was a huge injustice as St Francis’ Norris Monthy was shown a straight red card for a not so dangerous foul. It was a really harsh decision and the St Francis camp were mystified and angry as they made their feelings known.

Five minutes later, Côte d’Or finally equalised as Tigana and Collin Esther combined to set up Malagasy Patrick who headed home to make it 1-1.
St Francis were again hard done by referee Barra in the 88th minute as Branly Zizi raced into the penalty area and was clearly fouled by goalkeeper Cecile for a blatant penalty but to everyone’s amazement the Malagasy striker was penalised and booked for what the official deemed as a dive.

Côte d’Or had a couple of opportunities to claim all the points but Patrick wasted a good chance in the 92nd minute after Tigana had set him up.

LightStars defeat St Roch

LightStars registered a morale-boosting 4-2 victory over St Roch at the Amitié Stadium on Saturday.
LightStars went ahead through Malagasy Mario Ravo and minutes later Kevin Prosper increased their lead to 2-0.

Bertrand Esther also got in the scoring act and Malagasy Haja made it 4-0 as he converted from the penalty spot for a 4-0 lead at half-time.
St Roch though improved in the second period as Roy Julie’s strong shot came off a defender to find refuge in the net for a 1-4 score.

St Roch scored again through a penalty which Gerick Vidot tucked home for a 2-4 scoreline.

The Lions claim a point

The Lions claimed a point on La Digue on Saturday as they held Anse Reunion to a 1-1 draw.
On-loan St Michel midfielder Leeroy Mathiot gave The Lions a 1-0 lead before half-time.
However, Malagasy Hugo Sezou leveled the score at 1-1 in the second period.


R. J-L.