Football: First division league - St Louis stutter past Dynamo |04 May 2017

*Three red cards for Dynamo players at the final whistle

St Louis stuttered past Northern Dynamo 2-0 at Stad Linite in a first division league encounter on Tuesday afternoon as the losing team had three players red carded at the final whistle.

First division football returned to Stad Linite after a three-week break but the quality of football reflected the inactivity of the players as the level of play was not up to the required standard as the two teams tried to find their feet.

St Louis broke the deadlock after a drab opening on the half hour mark from Elijah Tamboo’s cross-cum shot which goalkeeper Frank Moutoni fumbled as he crashed the ball onto the post and it dropped invitingly to the lurking Malagasy Tahiry who rammed it from close range into a gaping goal to make it 1-0 at half-time. 

St Louis improved in the second half and in the 49th minute, Jude Nancy exploited space to centre to Collin Bibi who could not direct his header on target.

Two minutes later, Tahiry curled in a corner kick which fell to Tamboo whose shot grazed the crossbar as it sailed over the bar.

Dynamo almost punished a St Louis defensive error in the 53rd minute when Malagasy Rajamana slipped a pass to Marcus Maria whose shot on the run produced a good save out of Malagasy goalkeeper Michel.

St Louis should have doubled their lead in the 57th minute from a sweeping move by Tahiry who raced clear and set up Tamboo who delayed the shot and Bibi nicked the ball from him to shoot at goalkeeper Moutoni who did well to block the shot.

On the hour mark, Carlos Simeon picked out the overlapping Bibi whose shot was smothered by an alert goalkeeper Moutoni who kept his team in the match.

Dynamo were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty in the 67th minute when Henny Dufresne was caught in possession and Maria filtered a pass to Rajamana who appeared to be tripped by Malagasy defender Herve but referee Emile Fred was not convinced which really annoyed the Dynamo players.

In the 89th minute as Dynamo pushed for an equaliser, they rode their luck when St Louis substitute Mikhail Tirant laid the ball to Tahiry whose goal-bound shot was blocked by retreating defender Darren Gonzalves who had to be treated for taking the full force of the ball in his rib cage.

St Louis sealed the win in the 93rd minute though the Dynamo players felt Tamboo had pushed Dino Clarisse but it was not signaled allowing Tamboo to bore on goal and he eluded Gambian substitute Modou Jallow on the bye-line and then centered to Tirant who had all the time in the world to bury his shot into the net to make it 2-0 to secure all the points for his team though there were some unsavory scenes at the final whistle which saw three Dynamo players receive red cards.

Darryl Louise was the first to receive a red card as he got a second yellow at the final whistle for kicking the match ball away and he was followed by Clarisse for aggressing referee Fred and finally the official confirmed that Aldo Dufresne was also given a red card for using abusive language towards him as he left the pitch.

St Louis coach Nigel Freminot, who was missing his key players namely Gervais Waye-Hive, Kazeem Adeyeri and Roddy Melanie, was unperturbed by the incidents at the end of the match but more keen to savour three valuable points which propel his team to joint league leaders with St Michel who have a better goal difference.

“We created a lot of chances especially in the second half but it was good to keep a clean sheet as well as secure all the points and I must praise my players for their effort,” coach Freminot told Sports NATION.

As for Dynamo coach Cliff Nolin, he felt his team were not up to the fight and thus their defeat.

“Our performance was surely not to our expected level as we did not make the necessary sacrifice during the break and it was a disappointing performance,” coach Nolin told Sports NATION.

R. J-L.