Football: SFF Cup - St Louis floor St Michel, Anse Reunion seal Red Star Defence Forces’ fate |23 October 2017

League leaders St Louis defeated defending SFF Cup holders St Michel 1-0 at Stad Linite on Saturday afternoon in their quarterfinal match while on Friday, Anse Reunion knocked out Red Star Defence Forces on 3-0 score thanks to a hat-trick by Yelvanny Rose.

St Louis floor St Michel

St Louis met their old rivals St Michel in this six-pointer match at Stad Linite in front of a large crowd.

The players of coach Nigel Freminot made a flying start as they broke the deadlock in the 6th minute as Elijah Tamboo rifled past St Michel goalkeeper Alvin Michel to make it 1-0 as his fans celebrated in the stands.

St Louis continued to dominate proceedings and Karl Hall felt he deserved a penalty in the 13th minute but referee Jean-Claude Labrosse thought otherwise.

Hall though had to leave the pitch as well as Gervais Waye-Hive in the 23rd minute through injury and were replaced by Collin Bibi and Roddy Melanie respectively as St Michel took the upper-hand in the latter stage of this half.

However, the players of coach Ahmed Abdou could not create a decent opening as the first half ended at 1-0.

St Louis almost netted a second goal in the opening minute of the second half as Bibi fed Nigerian Kazeem Adeyeri whose shot was spilled by goalkeeper Alvin Michel before the danger was cleared.

St Michel had plenty of the ball in the second period though and in the 53rd minute, Neil Confiance eluded his marker to set up Nelson Laurence who fired at St Louis’ Malagasy goalkeeper Michel who saved but Laurence should have hit the target.

In the 58th minute, St Louis again went close when goalkeeper Alvin Michel left his goal and Bibi beat him to the ball and shot at goal but captain Alex Nibourette cleared on the goal-line.

St Louis suffered another injury blow in the 63rd minute when defender Damien Maria went down and was replaced by Serge Asba.

St Michel kept pushing forward for a leveler but could not create a decent chance with St Louis always dangerous on the counter but the match ended on a 1-0 score as St Louis registered their third win against their bitter rivals St Michel this season.

The St Louis coach Nigel Freminot was happy with his team’s performance in this tight match as they dumped the cup holders St Michel.

“We wanted to eliminate the cup holders and progress to the next stage and so I’m pleased with my players’ performance where they worked hard to close down our opponents,” coach Freminot explained to Sports NATION.

As for the St Michel manager Andrew Jean-Louis, he felt that his team must start rebuilding after losing their last chance to save their season with a cup.

“We made a slow start but then had control of the match after we had conceded. However, we lacked the cutting edge in attack and we must start rebuilding for the coming season as we have reached the end of our cycle and must start all over again,” manager Jean-Louis told Sports NATION.

Anse Reunion seal Red Star Defence Forces’ fate

Yelvanny Rose netted a hat-trick for Anse Reunion to inspire the La Digue team to beat Red Star Defence forces 3-0 at Stad Linite on Friday.

Red Star Defence Forces were supposedly the favourites to progress in this match but the players of coach Ted Esther rewrote the script.

Anse Reunion broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time from a mistake by Red Star Defence Forces captain Michel Souris to let in Rose who scored to make it 1-0 at the interval.

Yelvanny Rose added a second goal in the 63rd minute as Red Star Defence Forces’ goalkeeper Danny Larue cleared the ball to him and he punished him to make it 2-0.

The 38-year-old striker Rose completed his hat-trick in the 68th minute with a thumping header from Roderick Rose’s free kick to help his team reach the semifinal as Red Star Defence Forces put on one of their worst displays this season.

R. J-L.