Football : Barclays League Division One-Emphatic wins for St Michel and Anse Reunion |09 July 2007

St Michel and Anse Reunion registered emphatic wins over the weekend against Foresters and Northern Dynamo respectively while St Louis Suns scored a narrow victory over La Passe.

Philip Zialor scored a hat trick to lead St Michel to an emphatic 5-1 victory over Foresters at Stad Linite on Saturday while on the same day on La Digue Anse Reunion thumped Dynamo by the same margin.

On Friday St Louis Suns’ Congolese striker Jonathan Mbanze scored twice in the first half at Stad Linite to inspire his team to overcome La Passe on a 2 – 1 score.

St Louis Suns see of La Passe

St Louis Suns started brightly and took the lead in the fourth minute.

Fabien Cadeau held off some strong challenge to centre to Mbanze, who stooped to head past goalie Vincent Euphrasie to make it 1-0.

St Louis Suns continued to dominate La Passe as they enjoyed plenty of possession.
In the 14th  minute, Cadeau again picked up a long ball and crossed to Mervin Mathiot who volleyed wide.

Three minutes later, Jude Nancy overlapped on the right flank to centre to Mbanze who laid the ball to captain Denis Barbe who failed to hit the target.

Midway in a rare attack by La Passe, Malagasy Eric Rajaobery and Tanzanian Rashid Mohammed combined on a counter and it required a brave save by goalie Eugene Valentin at Mohammed’s feet to thwart the danger.

In the 25th  minute, Mbanze should have increased the lead as Jude Marie released Mathiot, whose deep cross was collected by Mbanze but he delayed his shot with the goal at his mercy.

Mbanze though made amends in the 32nd minute after a good passing move by St Louis Suns from defence to attack where Barbe and Mathiot combined well before Barbe slipped a pass to Mbanze who fired low past goalie Valentin to make it 2-0.

In the 37th minute La Passe reduced the arrears from Malagasy Bruno Saindini’s curling free kick which goalie Valentin fumbled and in the impending mêlée Etienne Fanchette headed home for a 1-2 score.

Five minutes later, Mbanze should have restored St Louis Suns’ two goal advantage as defender Jonathan Bibi picked out the Congolese striker with a superb long ball from defence.  Mbanze controlled the ball but fired wide when it looked easier to score.
La Passe came all out in the second half to redress the balance and in the opening minute Mohammed pounced on Malagasy Ralida’s mistake but he shot over the crossbar to let St Louis Suns off the hook.

St Louis Suns were being pressured and relied on the counter and in the 75th minute, substitute Alpha Balde and captain Barbe set up substitute Trevor Poiret who shot across goal.

Nine minutes later another substitute, Jones Joubert shot agonizingly wide after being released by captain Barbe.

La Passe must be rueing themselves for failing. The chance came from a rare mistake by Jonathan Bibi which La Passe latched onto and substitute Malagasy Jean Done Rakotonirina shot at goal but it flashed across the goalmouth.

St Louis Suns’ coach Marc Mathiot said that his team created many chances and made a great start but slackened a bit in the second period.

As for his counterpart, Mauritian Frank L’aiguille, he felt that the early goal they conceded disrupted their play but they improved in the second half.

Zialor’s hat trick help St Michel steamroll Foresters

It was always going to be a tall order for Foresters to trouble St Michel and the eastern club opened the floodgate in the 10th minute.

Alex Nibourette bore forward to link up with Henny Dufresne who laid the ball to Don Anacoura who scored with a spectacular volley which crept under goalie Joel Jean’s body for a 1-0 score.

Five minutes later Anacoura turned provider to set up Steve Stephen with an inch perfect cross but Stephen failed to connect.

Foresters struggled to stop St Michel but had a decent opportunity in the 17th minute from Jason Denise’s corner but Jose Labiche could not direct his header on target.

Two minutes later St Michel increased their lead from a double corner after Malagasy Pascal’s fierce shot was parried into corner by goalie Jean.
Nibourette floated a deep corner and Zialor met the ball with a towering header which Jason Denise failed to clear despite being on the goal line to make it 2-0.

St Michel’s crisp passing and movement was too much for Foresters to cope with as they were pegged in their own half.

In the 32nd minute in a swift counter attack Malagasy Pascal tried to curl the ball at the far post but goalie Jean spilled the shot to the lurking Zialor who had only to ram the ball home for a 3-0 lead.

In the 36th minute St Michel should have added a fourth, in a half where they created numerous chances. Anacoura curled a free-kick at the far post but both captain Godfrey Denis and Zialor went for the same ball which the former headed wide in a clear scoring position.

St Michel slackened a bit in the second period and in the 52nd minute, Foresters’ Derick Figaro centered to Denis Zialor who headed weakly at goalie Gino Melanie.

St Michel were still the better side and in the 70th minute Malagasy Pascal forced a good save out of goalie Jean from a curling free-kick.

In the 74th minute Zialor completed his hat trick with a beauty.

St Michel won a free kick near the corner flag and Zialor realizing goalie Jean’s short height, decided to go for an audacious curling free kick which flew into the top corner for not only an intelligent strike but also a brilliant one.

A minute later the game almost turned into a fiasco as the official who had struggled to handle the match had to resort to his red card to try and calm the situation.

It all started after Henny Dufresne beat goalie Jean but Jason Denise tracked him back to clear the danger.  Dufresne fouled the defender and the Foresters players were furious with the official for not booking the midfielder.  In the resulting exchange of words, Foresters’ defender Jeffrey Larue was bizarrely sent off by referee Bernard Camille.
When calm was restored, substitute striker Francis Nourrice latched onto a through ball in the 79th minute and goalie Melanie came out to challenge him as he went down.

Assistant referee Jason Damoo flagged to indicate a penalty and referee Camille obliged.

Denis Zialor stepped up to score his second consecutive penalty for Foresters to reduce the score to 1-4.

In the dying seconds St Michel put the icing on the cake with a fantastic goal created by Nibourette through a pass to Anacoura who chest trapped the ball to Pascal who blasted the ball into the roof of the net with a thunderbolt shot to round up the score at 5-1.
Manager Brian Uranie was pleased with his team’s showing especially in the first half as they head into three tough matches before the first round of the league ends.

Anse Reunion thrash Dynamo

Reigning league champions Anse Reunion are joint leaders of the Barclays first division league with St Louis Suns following their 5 – 1 thrashing of Northern Dynamo on Saturday in a match played on La Digue.

Kenyan Zablon Amanaka scored a brace with further goals from captain and goalie Rickey Rose from the penalty spot.

Yelvanny Rose and Roderick Rose also got their names on the score sheet for the La Digue team.

R. J-L.