Football: Côte d’Or crush St Michel to clinch Champions Cup |03 February 2014

Praslin side Côte d’Or crushed St Michel 4-1 at the Amitié Stadium on Saturday to win the inaugural Champions Cup final 4-2 on aggregate score.

St Michel had won the first match 1-0 at Stad Linite and it was always going to be a slender lead to defend on Praslin especially with a depleted squad missing the suspended defender Jimmy Radafison and the injured Hassan Aly though Jocelyn Fenosoa was fit to play.

Côte d’Or though were all fired up for this match despite the dampening weather which almost forced the match to be called off.

The boys of coach Ahmed Abdou got off to a flying start as Malagasy Patrick Rasaminana opened the scoring in the fifth minute with a beautifully curled free kick to beat Gino Melanie to make it 1-0.

Five minutes later, Gerald Basset added a second for the Barclays league division one champions for a 2-0 lead.

However, Leeroy Mathiot cut the deficit in the 23rd minute for a 1-2 score at half-time.

Côte d’Or once again made a brilliant start as Malagasy Patrick scored his brace as he shot past goalkeeper Melanie a minute into the second half for a 3-1 advantage.

In the 77th minute, St Michel were reduced to 10 men when defender Alex Nibourette was shown a straight red card for denying Malagasy Jean Tigana a goal-scoring opportunity as he gave away a penalty.

Dine Suzette’s spot kick though was pushed out by Melanie but former St Francis midfielder Ryan Antat pounced on the loose ball to make it 4-1.

Côte d’Or were also the victims of a direct expulsion in the 85th minute as defender Benoit Marie was given his marching orders as he pulled back Malagasy Fenosoa who was boring on goal.

But Côte d’Or had already guaranteed an emphatic victory over St Michel and maintained their good home record against their fiercest rivals.

Côte d’Or coach Ahmed Abdou was pleased with his players’ response after their loss the previous weekend but also acknowledged the adverse weather which had affected the match.

“The weather was awful but we were more determined today and played much better than last week and therefore I’m satisfied with the result,” Abdou told Sports Nation.

As for St Michel coach Ralph Jean-Louis, he was disappointed with his players as he felt they were not up to the challenge.

“Psychologically, my players were not focused and it seems the weather affected their morale. We gave two early goals and it did not help our cause,” coach Jean-Louis said.

The Champions Cup was presented to the Côte d’Or squad by Seychelles Football Federation vice-chairman Roch Henriette as the 2013 league champions claimed the first piece of silverware on offer this season to boost their preparation for their difficult away match in the African Champions League preliminary round match in Angola this week.

R. J-L.

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Published: 03-02-2014