Football: Division One League-Ten-man St Louis salvage draw |14 September 2006

St Louis started brightly and in the fourth minute, Trevor Poiret latched on to Jonathan Bibi’s through ball to set up Gervais Waye-Hive whose low shot was stopped by goalie Paul Ah-kong.

Thirteen minutes later, St Louis opened the scoring from Jones Joubert’s throw-in which was well controlled by Jonathan Bibi who in turn played the ball to Tony Morel whose blistering drive found refuge in the far corner of the net (1-0).

In the 33rd minute, Light Stars’ Hendrick Quatre galloped down the right flank and his deep cross flew over Jude Marie to Rwandan Jonathan Mbanze but he headed weakly at goalie Eugene Valentin.

Light Stars almost gifted St Louis a second goal in the 38th minute. Congolese Magnifique Ndikumana played a back- pass to goalie Ah-Kong who miscued his clearance and St Louis striker Hammed Adrienne shot at goal but the ball was cleared on the goal-line.

The boys of coach Thierry Hitimana upped the tempo in the second half and in the 54th minute they were rewarded. Mbanze chased a long ball and St Louis custodian Valentin raced out and collided with his captain Eddie Bistoé, allowing the Light Stars striker to score in an empty net (1-1).

This is the fourth goal goalie Valentin has gifted his opponents after his three blunders cost St Louis dearly in a 4-0 defeat against St Michel last Saturday.

Light Stars continued to unsettle the St Louis defence with their passing and movement and in the 75th minute, Joel Esther threaded a pass between two defenders for Mbanze who buried it into the roof of the net to give the Praslin-based team the lead for the first time in the game (2-1).

St Louis did not lose hope and in the 82nd minute Poiret scored an absolute cracker. It all started with Joubert and Waye-Hive combining to float a cross-field pass to Poiret whose sweetly struck volley had goal written all over it as it crashed in the far corner for a 2-2 score.

The game could have gone either way in the dying minutes as both teams went all out for victory, but for the second game in a row St Louis had a player sent off. In the 86th minute, Julie was dismissed by referee Jourdan Benstrong for apparently stamping on ‘keeper Ah-kong.

A minute later, Hugh Jeanne shook off Malagasy Ralida’s challenge and goalie Valentin surprisingly raced out and was beaten to the ball by the speedy striker who centered to Mbanze who looked odds on to score but his soft header hit a post with the goal gaping and the danger was cleared.

St Louis also had their chance in the 89th minute. Low-Ken played a through pass to Bibi and when he was about to shoot at goal, defender Senky Vidot produced a great recovery tackle to deny the midfielder as the two teams shared the points.

R. J-L.