Football: Division one league - Northern Dynamo down Au Cap in opening league match |09 March 2018

Airtel Cup winners Northern Dynamo downed newly promoted Au Cap 2-0 at Stad Linite in the opening first division match of the new league season on Wednesday afternoon.

Dynamo had lost quite a few players during the close season and had to bring in some of their young guns against last year’s second division champions Au Cap who started with an all-Seychellois line-up.

It was the north Mahé club who made the brighter start and should have taken the lead in the 2nd minute when Aldo Dufresne released Malagasy Rajamana who in turn slipped a glorious pass to Marcus Maria who looked odds on to score but he lofted his shot over the bar with only goalkeeper Gerard Tirant to beat.

Six minutes later, Au Cap defender Julio Denis almost gave away a penalty when he appeared to handle the ball as he slipped when he was clearing the danger but referee Nelson Emile did not entertain Dynamo’s appeal.

A minute later, Dufresne showed his speed as he outsprinted defender Albert Louis to put in a perfect cross to young Aubrey Francourt who hesitated to go for the ball as goalkeeper Tirant came rushing out to tackle him.

Francourt though was denied by a brilliant instinctive save in the 16th minute as Dynamo kept probing and once again Dufresne’s teasing cross reached him but his goal bound shot was kept out by goalkeeper Tirant’s leg.

Au Cap responded in the 19th minute when Marcus Louise found some space on the right to fire at Cameroonian goalkeeper Frank Moutoni who had to go down to push the ball into corner.

Dynamo though duly opened the scoring in their next attack three minutes later as Maria and Rajamana played a fantastic one-two in the Au Cap penalty area before Maria swept the ball home for a 1-0 score.

Au Cap responded positively after falling behind as they went close in the 26th minute when Julio Denis linked up with Sean Romain who tried to squeeze the ball past goalkeeper Moutoni at the near post but the Dynamo custodian parried the shot into corner as the score remained 1-0 at half time.

Dynamo began strongly in the second period and in the 48th minute Rajamana stole the ball from a defender on the bye-line to lay it on a plate to Maria who blazed wide with the goal at his mercy.

In the 54th minute, controversy loomed as Rajamana latched onto a through ball and was heading for goal but he was stopped in his stride by an offside flag from assistant referee Sadjee Padayachy and it was a very questionable decision. Dynamo were furious with the official as they looked likely to add to their scoreline.

Au Cap then tried to raise their game with the introduction of former St John Bosco midfielder, Ghanaian Jonas Baffoe, to help control the middle of the pitch.

Baffoe though should have done better with a well-placed free kick in the 65th minute on the edge of the penalty area but he shot wide.

Au Cap were undone in the 85th minute by a horrendous mistake by goalkeeper Tirant when he dropped Maria’s hanging free kick and substitute Kevin Mirabeau pounced on the loose ball to slot it home to make it 2-0 the final score.

The result was very satisfying for Dynamo coach Cliff Nolin who saw his young protégés make a good start to the league campaign.

“It is a good result as we had to integrate a lot of young players to our team after losing some of our senior players and we should have scored more in the first half but it is a positive result which will be an encouragement for our young squad as they integrate to our playing style,” coach Nolin told Sports NATION.

For his part, Au Cap team vice-president Nichol Dogley was not too despondent with the result but feels they will learn from their mistakes in their first division debut.

“We started slowly as we showed too much respect for our opponents but we improved in the second period especially when we brought on Jonas (Baffoe) and we were aiming for at least a draw. But we hope for a better result next time when we will have bolstered our squad with two more foreign players,” noted the Au Cap vice-president.

R. J-L.