Football: Airtel Cup-St Michel fight back to remain unbeaten |18 July 2011

On Saturday at Stad Linite, St Louis Suns continued their recent revival with a 5-2 win over St Francis and in the first match played at the Amitié Stadium on Praslin, LightStars edged Northern Dynamo 1-0.

St Michel v/s St Roch

St Michel fielded a depleted squad but still managed to stretch their unbeaten run this season.

St Roch though gave them a good fight and threatened to break the deadlock in the seventh minute as Malagasy Nestor Benahovy opened the St Michel defence to release Marcus Emilien but he shot wide.

St Michel responded in the 15th minute as Godfrey Denis floated a cross to Allen Larue whose header sailed wide.

St Roch went ahead as they pounced on a rare mistake by goalie Nelson Sopha who misjudged the flight of Patrick Bonne’s free-kick and he lost the ball in the air. Nerick Athanase was on hand to punish him, firing the loose ball into the net for a 1-0 lead.

St Michel though levelled matters two minutes later as Gervais Waye-Hive’s teasing cross was missed by Leeroy Mathiot but Leeroy Corallie drilled it home (1-1).

St Roch had another good chance in the 29th minute as Steven Télémaque latched onto a defensive mistake but he failed to hit the target.

Just past the half hour mark, Waye-Hive threaded a pass to Francis Nourrice who beat the St Roch offside trap, dribbled past goalie Eugene Valentin to score to make it 2-1.

St Roch equalised in the 37th minute as St Michel’s Dereck Agathine brought down Athanase and referee Bernard Camille pointed to the penalty spot. Télémaque stepped up to send Sopha the wrong way to make the score read 2-2 at half-time.
St Michel regained the lead in the 55th minute after Denis galloped forward and his near post cross was inadvertently turned into his own net by Marvin Pierre’s header for a 3-2 score.

St Roch had two good opportunities to draw level. On the hour mark, Benahovy’s free-kick fell to Athanase but he headed wide with the goal at his mercy and three minutes later Darrel Forte picked up a half-cleared corner and his fierce left foot drive produced a brilliant save from Sopha.

St Michel’s Larue went close to extending his team’s advantage in the 71st minute as he skipped past a couple of tackles and let fly a left footer which Valentin tipped over.

St Michel scored a controversial fourth goal deep in injury time as Valentin was at fault. He failed to clear the ball quickly and tried to dribble past Corallie but conceded a throw-in. Substitute Alex Nibourette took a quick throw-in to Corallie as goalie Valentin rushed to get back to his goal. Corallie controlled the ball and set up Mathiot who placed it past Valentin to make it 4-2.

However, St Roch were furious as there were a couple of errors by the officials such as an offside decision at the start of the incident and even a foul throw which was not sanctioned as Nibourette took the throw inside the bye-line.

St Louis Suns v St Francis

St Louis Suns continued their recent revival with a 5-2 win over St Francis at Stad Linite on Saturday.
They got off to a perfect start in the second minute as Fabien Cadeau opened the score (1-0).

St Louis Suns were buzzing with some crisp passing and went further ahead in the 13th minute from the penalty spot as Malagasy Rakotomanga brought down captain Trevor Poiret. As Poiret received treatment, Brian Dorby stepped up to beat goalie Andrea Libanotis from the spot kick for a 2-0 lead.

St Louis Suns continued to dominate and in the 23rd minute Serge Asba cut inside a defender to fire at Libanotis who was equal to the task.

St Francis had a good chance to cut the deficit in the 42nd minute as Rakotomanga controlled a long ball before feeding Alpha Baldé whose toe-poke produced a great reaction save from goalie Joel Lesperance.

St Louis Suns added a third goal on the stroke of half-time and it was a beauty as Cadeau and Poiret exchanged passes to release Serge Asba who blasted an unstoppable shot to make it 3-0.

St Francis reduced the arrears 50 seconds in the second half as substitute Stephane Barallon latched onto a poor clearance and with his first touch shot via the post to make it 3-1.

St Louis Suns though restored their advantage in the 49th minute as captain Poiret released Ryan Antat who held his defender before slotting the ball past Libanotis for a 4-1 lead.

St Louis Suns went further ahead in the 54th minute as Poiret picked out Antat with a long ball and he crossed to Cadeau who rolled the ball into the path of Asba whose low shot flew into the net as it grazed the post for a 5-1 lead.

Two minutes later, St Francis reduced the score as Barallon again exploited space on the right to blast past Lesperance for a 5-2 score.

Just past the hour mark, Barallon latched onto a through ball but he fired into the side-netting in a good scoring position with only Lesperance to beat.

St Louis Suns weathered the storm and in the 83rd minute substitute Kelly Nibourette played a one-two with Asba and his shot was pushed into corner by Libanotis’ legs.

Two minutes later, Poiret ran from his own half to beat the St Francis offside trap and one-on-one with Libanotis, he saw his shot deflected into corner.

St Louis Suns had to negotiate the last five minutes with 10 men as substitute Travis Laurence came out worse in a clash with Malagasy Fortunat but his team held on for their second win a week and condemned coach Bernard Dorasamy to a second heavy loss in a week after also losing 1-9 to La Passe the weekend before.

LightStars v Northern Dynamo

Praslin side LightStars edged Northern Dynamo 1-0 at the newly opened Amitié Stadium on Praslin on Saturday.
Renick Esther scored the all-important goal from a free-kick in the first half to ensure his team all three points.
 
R. J-L.