Football: Barclays league division one - Revengers rewrite the script against St Louis |25 September 2015

Praslin side Revengers rewrote the script against high flying St Louis to upset them 3-1 at Stad Linite on Thursday afternoon in a Barclays league division one encounter.

It was third placed St Louis’ second defeat on the trot. They were expected to win this match but for this loss the finger of blame will surely be pointed at the coaching team for some decisions that returned to haunt them, such as dropping goalkeeper Jalyl Servina and not even having Joel Lesperance on the bench but preferring to give untested goalkeeper Aaron Tirant his debut. But the biggest blunder was to pull off Bertrand Esther just past the hour while allowing Nigel Freminot who had just returned from injury to play on as they opted for a three-man defence after falling behind in this match.

Coach Patrick Cafrine admitted that their tactical switch had backfired and proved costly and this was surely a major setback for them in a match which started slowly with Nigerian Kazeem Adeyeri wasting two decent chances especially on the stroke of half-time when he failed to lob Revengers reserve goalkeeper Neddy Lesperance, but the players of coach Basil Hoareau had shown that they pose a threat with their speed on the counter-attack.

St Louis showed more purpose in the second period and captain Mathiot failed to finish off a good passing move in the 46th minute while Adeyeri hit the post in the 56th minute after Elijah Tamboo had surged into the penalty area and appeared to be pulled down but referee Alistair Barra had played the advantage allowing the Nigerian forward to shoot at goal though he looked yards offside.

On the hour mark, Revengers put the cat among the pigeon as Malagasy Evariste latched onto a long ball forward to catch the Saints defence napping and he skipped past Esther to drill the ball past goalkeeper Tirant to make it 1-0.

St Louis then pulled off Esther to bring on Roddy Melanie and two minutes later he finished off a move he had started as he linked up with Nigerian Oladele Olamati who released his colleague Kazeem Sulaimon. Sulaimon did well to glide past two defenders to send an inch-perfect cross to Melanie who headed powerfully into the net for a 1-1 score.

St Louis though were vulnerable in defence and in the 79th minute when Tamboo lost possession in midfield, Revengers countered with incredible speed to send Malagasy Roger Nambintsoa racing clear and he held off the challenge of substitute Yannick Julie and Freminot to rifle the ball past a static goalkeeper Tirant for a 2-1 lead.

St Louis had not yet recovered from conceding when Revengers hit them again in the 81st minute as substitute Jean-Yves Stravens was given too much space to bear on goal and shoot at goalkeeper Tirant who spilled his shot and there was Nambintsoa who reacted quicker than the St Louis defenders to slot the ball home to make it 3-1.

St Louis had to throw caution to the wind now and in the 84th minute Malagasy substitute Fagnorena fired at goalkeeper Lesperance who could only parry the shot to Tamboo but his shot was charged down by the Revengers defence.

Three minutes later, Melanie skillfully found his way into the penalty area and went down in a heap as his supporters appealed for a penalty but it was not given and Fagnorena blasted the loose ball against the post.

As St Louis pushed forward, Stravens should have added a fourth on the stroke of full-time as he beat the St Louis offside trap and goalkeeper Tirant started to come out and then retreated as he was caught in no man’s land but the Revengers striker just missed the target with his lob.

Melanie was denied a second time at the other end seconds later as his left foot shot on the run forced goalkeeper Lesperance to turn it over the crossbar as his team claimed the scalp of St Louis whose supporters were furious with their team for losing a match they were expected to win comfortably especially after drawing level.

Coach Cafrine expressed his disappointment with the result as he took some of the blame for this defeat.

“We did not play well at all today as nothing worked on the pitch and we tried to make some tactical changes to improve our play but sadly it did not come off and rather proved costly,” coach Cafrine said.

As for Revengers trainer Hoareau, he was relieved to have collected three vital points which pulls them out of ninth place and lifts them to seventh position on the league standings.

“Today my players were desperate for the points and we adopted a cautious approach to avoid conceding first as well as hit them on the counter. Our plan was effective and we are really happy with this win,” coach Hoareau told Sports Nation.

St Louis will have to lick their wounds and be ready for a tough week as they play Northern Dynamo on Tuesday and next Saturday clash with league leaders St Michel.   

R. J-L.