Football: Barclays division one-St Louis Suns United keep pressure on defending champions |02 July 2007

St Louis Suns United v Anse Réunion

Heavy rain almost caused the match to be postponed but referee Jourdan Benstrong finally gave the all-clear 10 minutes late of the kick-off time. For St Louis Suns United, this proved to be a good decision as they earned a hard fought victory which propelled them to the top of the nine-team league standings, whilst Anse Réunion suffered a second consecutive defeat.

St Louis Suns United started brightly enjoying plenty of possession but soon Anse Réunion started closing them down in a very tactical first half with very few goalmouth actions.

The first goal-scoring opportunity fell to Anse Réunion in the 21st minute. Yelvanny Rose picked up a long ball and in acres of space, he shot across goal with St Louis Suns United’s goalkeeper Eugene Valentin struggling to cut out the danger. Positioned at the far post, Jude Bibi, scorer of the only goal against the same St Louis Suns United in the Airtel Cup final, rammed the ball home to give Anse Réunion a 1-0 lead.

St Louis Suns United were lucky not to concede a penalty on the half hour mark as Anse Réunion’s Roderick Rose’s free-kick appeared to come off Malagasy Ralida’s hand in his attempt to clear the danger. The official adjudged it was not intentional.

The boys of coach Marc Mathiot levelled matters on the stroke of half-time. It all started from defender Jude Nancy’s throw-in to captain Denis Barbé who played the ball back to his defender whose inch-perfect cross sailed over the Anse Réunion defence and there was Congolese goalpoacher Jonathan Mbanze whose glancing header flew past goalie Ricky Rose.

St Louis Suns United were more determined in the second period and in the 52nd minute, Nerick Athanase shoved Anse Réunion’s Pierluigi Nibourette off the ball but referee Benstrong failed to spot out the infringement. Athanase played the ball to Mervin Mathiot whose shot forced Anse Réunion’s goalie Ricky Rose to push it into corner.

In the 63rd minute, Mbanze linked up with Athanase but he shot weakly at goalie Ricky Rose.

Two minutes later, Anse Réunion also had a decent chance as Roderick Rose picked out Yelvanny Rose with his free-kick, but the striker could not direct his header on target.

In the 74th minute, Kenyan Zamblon Amanaka was caught over-playing with the ball by Mbanze and as the latter raced in the box he was apparently brought down by the same Amanaka but the official was not convinced.

In the 80th minute, St Louis Suns United took the lead after captain Barbé, who had a very good game, ran from his own half with the ball before exchanging passes with Mbanze. Barbé’s fierce shot was blocked into the path of Mbanze who made no mistake to complete his brace with a near post shot which caught goalie Ricky Rose flat-footed. This was Mbanze’s fourth goal in as many matches.

Anse Réunion had no choice but to throw everything in attack and they were almost rewarded for the endeavours in the 88th minute. Steven Gomme met Roderick Rose’s corner kick with a powerful header which grazed the St Louis Suns Uinted’s cross-bar.

A minute later, St Louis Suns United killed off the contest with a swift counter-attack involving substitute Jones Joubert, Mbanze and skipper Barbé. They opened up the Anse Réunion defence and Barbé capped a wonderful move with an equally superb goal – a left-footed shot which crashed into the roof of the net to make it 3-1.

Anse Réunion’s coach, Vojo Gardasevic, felt that his team’s defeat was due to silly mistakes.

As for St Louis Suns United’s coach Marc Mathiot, he explained that their tactical plan helped them overcome the defending league champions.

La Passe v St Michel

St Michel have been unable to get a win in their last two matches and on Saturday on La Digue, they played a 1-1 draw with home side La Passe.

They opened the score through Nelson Laurence in the first half. La Passe’s Tanzanian striker Rashid Mohamed equalized from the penalty spot early in the second half to ensure both teams share the points.

Light Stars v Foresters

Light Stars continued their good form of late as they edged visitors Foresters 2-1 on Saturday at the Baie Ste Anne Praslin playing field.

Light Stars went ahead in the second half as their new recruit, Kenyan Charles Otundu, scored on his debut.

Renick Esther doubled the lead for the home team midway in the half before Foresters’ Denis Zialor reduced the arrears from the penalty spot for a 2-1 final score.

Northern Dynamo v Red Star

Last Wednesday at Stad Linite, Northern Dynamo and Red Star shared the points in a 1-1 draw.

Red Star took the lead early in the second half through a Gervais Waye-Hive free-kick.

Northern Dynamo’s Malagasy striker Asman Todisoa levelled the score late in the match.

R. J-L.