Football: Division one league - Red Star Defence Forces and Foresters draw |27 October 2017

Red Star Defence Forces and Foresters shared a 1-1 draw at Stad Linite on Thursday afternoon in a first division league encounter.

Both teams needed all three points to boost their chances of avoiding being involved in the play off at the end of this campaign but after an interesting encounter, they had to be content with a share of the points.

Foresters made a bright start and went close in the 2nd minute from Nick Labiche’s corner which was met by Martin William’s header but Red Star Defence Forces goalkeeper Andrick Hortense had to clear the danger.

Foresters’ Malagasy defender Leonard Besabotsy then gifted the army team an opening goal in the 13th minute when he miscued a long ball and there was Malagasy Sydo to volley past goalkeeper Elvis Leopold to make it 1-0.

Foresters though did not let this early setback affect them as they had a go at their opponents and in the 14th minute Ryan Henriette broke clear of the army team’s defence but shot tamely at goalkeeper Hortense.

Four minutes later, the Mont Fleuri-based team had a decent appeal for a penalty turned down by referee Jean-Claude Labrosse as the Red Star Defence Forces captain Michel Souris held back Marlon Sophola in the penalty area.

Foresters continued to ask questions of the Red Star Defence Forces rear-guard and in the 26th minute, Henriette showed blistering pace and skill to skip past a couple of defenders before laying the ball on a plate to William who surprisingly shot over the crossbar from five metres out.

Red Star Defence Forces had a half chance in a rare attack in this half coming on the half hour mark from Malagasy Jocelyn’s free kick but goalkeeper Leopold just managed to pluck the ball off the head of Malagasy Michel Nambintsoa.

In the 34th minute, Foresters’ skipper, Malagasy Edgard floated a free kick behind the Red Star Defence Forces backline to the overlapping Tanzanian Hussein Bakary who did well to hook the ball across goal but Francis Nourrice was too slow to react allowing a gilt-edge opportunity to go to waste.

Nourrice was again inches away to connect to Henriette’s cross in the 43rd minute after the young striker had tormented the army team’s defence before lofting the ball into the penalty area as the first half ended 1-0 in favour of the 2016 second division champions.

The players of coach Rodney Choisy though levelled matters three minutes into the second period when the army team failed to clear their lines and Labiche picked up the loose ball on the edge of the penalty area to plant it into the bottom far corner past goalkeeper Hortense to make it 1-1 score as he scored his second goal in two matches.

William should have put his team in the lead in the 55th minute from a brilliant pass by Labiche over the Red Star Defence Forces wall but somehow he delayed his shot before firing wide of the target.

Two minutes later, Kenner Nourrice was lucky to receive only a yellow card after kicking out at Mike Lesperance in an off-the-ball incident after the defender had stopped him in his stride with a crunching but legitimate tackle seconds earlier in front of the grandstand.

The former St Michel player had expected the official to blow for a foul in his favour but when it was not given and play was allowed to continue as the two players lie on the floor, he decided to hit out in Lesperance’s back as he got up and the referee was alerted to the incident and after consulting with his assistant Steve Marie, he opted only for a booking when it could easily have been a red card.

Red Star Defence Forces then took control of this fascinating match but found it hard to get past a rugged Foresters defence line marshalled by their captain Edgard.

The only decent opportunity fell to Jocelyn in the 70th minute from a half-cleared ball on the edge of the penalty area but his rasping shot flew agonisingly wide as the match ended in a stalemate leaving Red Star Defence Forces in 11th position in the league while Foresters are also not entirely safe in ninth place in the standings.

However, both camps were pleased with their team’s display and felt that the match could have gone their way.

“It was a good match but we gave away a stupid goal but still we kept on going and created a lot of chances in the first half especially to win but our finishing let us down,” Foresters’ coach Choisy told Sports NATION.

“We did not start well in the first half to cut out the long balls by our opponents to their two strikers but then we sorted ourselves out at the interval and dominated the second half and could have won the match in a balanced encounter. We still have four matches though to improve our chances of not being involved in the play-off,” Red Star Defence Forces manager Philip Barbé related to Sports NATION.

R. J-L.