Football: Airtel Cup - Mathiot hat-trick helps St Louis dismantle Northern Dynamo |28 May 2015

St Louis captain Mervin Mathiot bagged a hat-trick against Northern Dynamo to help his team romp to a 6-1 victory at Stad Linite on Tuesday in a re-scheduled Airtel Cup match.

This was a match that was being replayed because the scheduled encounter over a month ago had to be called off because of poor lighting with 12 minutes remaining with the score locked at 2-2.

Dynamo were eager for a win to push them closer to qualify for the semifinals of this competition as group runners-up as they had 11 points – the same total as Foresters who have a better goal difference and also have a match to play on Friday against The Lions.

Dynamo almost made an explosive start to this match as their Maldivian striker Mohamed Kiaz broke clear in the opening seconds and was pulled down for a blatant penalty by Jean-Paul Aglaé but referee Nelson Emile was not convinced.

St Louis then went on to dominate this match and surged ahead in the fifth minute from a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area which captain Mathiot curled past Dynamo’s reserve goalkeeper Trevor Henriette for a 1-0 lead.

Dynamo, whose head coach Cliff Nolin was in the stands after he was on away duty with the national team at the Cosafa competition allowing Brian Ravinia to take charge on the bench, drew level in the 27th minute as their Gambian striker Musa Njie dispossessed Bertrand Esther to race clear and rifle a beauty in the top corner past goalkeeper Joel Lesperance to make it 1-1.

St Louis regained their lead seven minutes later from some great approach play by Roddy Melanie whose cross was deflected by Dynamo defender Ronny Marengo to St Louis’ Nigerian forward Kazeem Adeyeri who headed the ball into the net for a 2-1 advantage.

St Louis extended their lead on the half hour mark on a counterattack led by Adeyeri and his teasing cross was cleared as far as captain Mathiot who buried the loose ball into the net to make it 3-1 at half-time.
Dynamo reshuffled their defence as they brought on Teddy Cupidon and Kieren Sinon for Darren Gonzalves and Collin Tirant.

St Louis though were still dangerous on the attack against a hapless Dynamo team who lacked the desire and Adeyeri missed a sitter in the 47th minute from a brilliant cross by Elijah Tamboo.
St Louis scored a fourth goal in the 57th minute after Tamboo and Melanie combined to open up Dynamo’s defence and set up Adeyeri who headed home his second goal for a 4-1 score.
In the 66th minute, both Adeyeri and captain Mathiot went agonisingly close to grab their hat-trick as some neat exchange of passes ripped apart Dynamo’s back line.

Eleven minutes later, Nigerian Kazeem Sulaimon linked up with captain Mathiot to once again breach Dynamo’s out of sorts’ rearguard and Sulaimon placed his shot in the far corner to make it 5-1.

Captain Mathiot sealed this impressive win in the 88th minute as he played a one-two with Sulaimon and broke clear from the half-way line to bore on goal and the Dynamo defence gave up the chase allowing him to blast the ball past goalkeeper Henriette for a 6-1 final result as he completed his hat-trick and was surely man of the match for this encounter.

Captain Mathiot was quite pleased with his team’s performance as well as his own form as he has now scored five goals in his last three matches for St Louis.
“We had a point to prove after a poor start to the season and we showed today that our play has improved along with our fitness level and I’m also happy with my form at the moment,” captain Mathiot related to Sports Nation.

As for their coach Patrick Cafrine, he was also pleased with the showing though he acknowledged that their opponents did not live up to their usual form.

“It was good to score quite a few goals as it showed the hunger in the team and this win will surely boost morale in our camp though Dynamo also did not perform to what we expected of them. The victory will serve as encouragement for the players for the league race,” explained the St Louis trainer to Sports Nation.

St Louis have eight points and are expected to meet pool B winners St Michel this Saturday in their final pool game with still a mathematical chance of making it to the semis though Foresters remain favourite to secure the runners-up berth.

R. J-L.