Football: Barclays League Division One-St Michel sweep aside SMB |07 August 2008

Philip Zialor continued his amazing scoring record as he bagged a hat-trick to make it five goals in two matches.

St Michel opened the floodgates in the second minute as Zialor eluded SMB captain David Dorby’s tackle to thread a pass to Malagasy Pascal, who raced from the halfway line leaving several defenders in his wake to place the ball past goalie Antoine Dubel for a 1-0 lead.

Dorby made amends for the mistimed tackle that led to St Michel’s opener by earning a penalty a minute later. Lorenzo Mathiot was penalised for a high tackle as Dorby was aiming a left-foot volley at goalie Nelson Sopha.

Colin Laporte stepped up to send goalie Sopha the wrong way but placed his shot horribly wide.

In the ninth minute, SMB rode their luck as Pascal’s shot was deflected for a corner and Zialor’s attempt was cleared on the goal-line by Serge Asba.

Gerald Basset twice came close for SMB, but he could not score.

St Michel extended their lead after some slick passing. Malagasy Nestor Benahovy played a ball over the defence to Anacoura, who lobbed Dubel (2-0).

Just past the half-hour mark, St Michel went further ahead as Anacoura and Bernard St Ange exchanged some neat passes before slipping the ball to Zialor, who easily beat the advancing Dubel for a 3-0 lead.

SMB’s Laporte and Rannes Vel had decent chances to reduce the deficit in the dying minutes of this half but flashed their shots across goal with St Michel’s defence caught flat-footed.

St Michel picked up where they had left off in the second period as Zialor made it 4-0 in the 48th minute from a Nibourette cross.

Four minutes later Zialor completed his hat-trick after Pascal went on a strong run down the right flank and intelligently pulled the ball back to him on the edge of the penalty area. Zialor curled the ball into the top righthand corner as Dubel followed it into the net (5-0).

In the 54th minute, St Michel were again on target. From a quick throw-in by Danny César, Nibourette galloped to the byline before sending a cross to the near post and Anacoura pushed the ball home to make it 6-0.

St Michel added a seventh goal in the 82nd minute when Pascal ran from near the halfway line to blast a fierce shot at Dubel, who could do little to stop the ball from crashing into the roof of the net (7-0).

St Michel put the icing on the cake with the last kick of the game after a mêlée in the SMB penalty area. The ball fell invitingly to Pascal, who fed it for substitute Leeroy Corallie to send in a thumping shot that flew just inside the post to complete the 8-0 rout.

St Michel manager Brian Uranie told Sports Nation he was happy with his team’s scoring achievement though he felt they did not fire on all cylinders in the first half.

SMB manager Georges Toussaint said his team had an off-day; the penalty miss affected his team’s morale and was the turning point of the match.  He is confident, though, they will bounce back soon.

R. J-L.