Football: Transitional league division one |03 June 2019
St Michel and Foresters draw, La Passe, LightStars win
St Michel fought back to come from behind twice to earn a 3-3 draw with Foresters at Stad Linite on Saturday afternoon while LightStars beat Anse Reunion 2-1 and La Passe swept aside Revengers 6-0. On Friday, St Louis shared the points with Northern Dynamo in a series of Transitional league matches played over the weekend.
St Michel and Foresters share six-goal thriller
St Michel had to come from behind twice in this highly contentious encounter to share a thrilling 3-3 draw at Stad Linite on Saturday afternoon in this match which almost did not take place due to a waterlogged pitch but the official waited for 20 minutes before kicking off as the heavy rain subsided.
St Michel almost made a sensational start to this match when they won a free kick in the opening minute after Foresters skipper, Malagasy Leonard Besabotsy, handled a long ball and the eastern club’s captain Malagasy Hassan Aly’s free kick was parried by goalkeeper Kitson Cecile but Norris Bibi could not direct his header on target after he had pounced on the loose ball.
Foresters then grabbed this match by the scruff of its neck as they squeezed out St Michel and broke the deadlock from a floated free kick by captain Besabotsy which the St Michel defence failed to clear and Ryan Henriette drilled the loose ball past goalkeeper Jalyl Servina for a 1-0 lead.
St Michel were lucky that Julio Brown was not cautioned four minutes later when he intentionally pulled down Martin William who was racing clear but only a free kick was awarded.
St Michel though had a decent chance in the 20th minute when Foresters also allowed a ball to bounce in their defence and captain Besabotsy did not clear the danger and the ball fell to the out-of-sorts Malagasy striker Francis but he made a meal of his shot from inside the penalty area and 10 minutes later, they lost defender Travis Quatre through injury as he had to be taken to hospital and was replaced by Yannick Julie.
However, St Michel looked all over the place in defence and goalkeeper Servina had to produce a wonderful save to deny Brandon Labrosse in the 33rd minute with a rasping shot from the edge of the penalty area.
Foresters continued to boss the game and in the 36th minute, Henriette headed wide Williams’ corner whereas Labrosse had an even better chance as he outmuscled defender Nigel Hoareau to have the goal in his sight but he hurried his shot which flew wide when he had more time to pick his spot to score, thus wasting a great chance.
A minute later, Foresters were denied a crystal clear penalty when Brown hacked down Henriette in the penalty area and was booked but referee Havelock placed the ball outside the penalty area for a free kick which was very baffling to comprehend.
The Mont Fleuri-based side though did score again in the fourth minute of added time in the first half as William found space on the left and his inch-perfect cross was missed by Henriette but the overlapping Laurence Leon stabbed the ball into the net to make it 2-0 at the break.
St Michel showed more purpose in the second period and were given a lifeline in the first minute of this half as they were awarded a penalty for a handball by goal scorer Henriette as Yannick Julie’s shot came off his hand and referee Havelock had no hesitation to point to the penalty spot. Malagasy Evariste stepped up to score despite goalkeeper Kitson Cecile getting a hand to the ball for a 1-2 score.
Foresters though went mighty close to restore their two-goal lead following a poor clearance by goalkeeper Servina in the 68th minute as he gave the ball away to William who let fly a superb shot but the St Michel custodian redeemed himself with a great save.
The players of coach Harold Hoareau did regain their two-goal cushion in the 68th minute when St Michel’s Antonio Ratafina lost the ball in midfield and Tanzanian Hussein Bakary released the speedy Henriette who left Nelson Laurence in his wake to slot the ball through goalkeeper Servina’s legs to make it 3-1.
St Michel had a bit more possession in this half but Foresters were more threatening and in the 73rd minute, Kenner Nourrice sprung forward before he centred in the box where the ball was handled by defender Hoareau for a penalty but amazingly the official was not convinced.
To add insult to injury, the same Havelock awarded St Michel a second penalty in the 81st minute when Bakary upended substitute Alvin Larue though the foul appeared to be out of the box.
This time Malagasy substitute Olivier Livakely took responsibility of the spot kick to bury it into the roof of the net to reduce the arrears to 2-3.
As St Michel pushed for an equaliser, Foresters had two glorious opportunities to kill off the contest but Brandon Labrosse made the wrong choices and shot weakly at goalkeeper Servina though in the 88th minute, he was pulled down by defender Hoareau who was the last defender as the Foresters’ midfielder broke clear and referee Havelock only awarded a free kick for a foul which could even have been worthy of a dismissal let alone a booking at the very least.
St Michel managed to grab a late equaliser in the 92nd minute again from a controversial decision by the official after he gave a cheap foul in favour of Livakely who lost his balance. The Malagasy midfielder fired at goal and his dipping shot threatened to sail over goalkeeper Cecile who had to tip the ball into corner.
The players of coach Nigel Moustache scored from the resulting corner floated by Norris Bibi and there was defender Hoareau whose smart glancing header at the near post flew into the net to make it 3-3 the final score as St Michel were relieved to have been let off the hook while Foresters were rightly aggrieved with the official who had been harsh on them and did not give them what they deserved in this match.
“We were cheated of a victory which we really deserved in this match we dominated especially in the first half and we had plenty of chances to score more goals but the official denied us two clear penalties but decided to give two to our opponent which was very unfair and this is very frustrating,” Foresters coach Hoareau told Sports NATION.
As for St Michel manager Andrew Jean-Louis, he was happy his team had avoided a first defeat in this competition but didn’t think they received any favours from the official.
“I don’t think we received any favours from the official purposefully but it was rather a matter that he didn’t know what he was doing and was not in control of proceedings with some inconsistent decisions. As for my team’s performance, we didn’t play well especially after we lost our defender where we looked disorganised and we are just relieved the players fought hard to earn a point and I must congratulate them for this extra effort in the second half,” the St Michel manager related to Sports NATION.
St Louis and Northern Dynamo share the spoils
Gran Kaz champions St Louis and Northern Dynamo shared the spoils on Friday afternoon in a 1-1 draw at Stad Linite.
St Louis had taken the lead in the first period from some good work by their Malagasy striker Georges Kalo who linked up with Danny Madeleine who set him up to coolly tuck the ball home to make it 1-0 at half-time.
Northern Dynamo leveled the score in the opening minute of the second half through Malagasy Patrick Rasaminana whose deflected shot went on past goalkeeper Michel for a 1-1 final scoreline.
La Passe rip apart Revengers
La Passe ripped apart Revengers 6-0 at the L’Union playing field on Saturday afternoon in the Inner island Transitional league match.
Malagasy Florent opened the floodgates in the first half and young Afsad Abdou increased the lead before the interval for a 2-0 lead.
La Passe added four more goals after the break as Florent scored two other goals to complete his hat-trick and Afsad Abdou also bagged his brace while his younger brother Arfan also got on the scoresheet for a final 6-0 whopping for the players of coach Bruno Saindini who told Sports NATION that he is using this competition to expose some of his young players and noted that the results are very encouraging.
LightStars beat Anse Reunion
Airtel Cup holders LightStars defeated Anse Reunion 2-1 at Stad Amitié on Saturday afternoon.
The two teams were locked at 0-0 at half-time but LightStars took the lead early in the second period from a penalty converted by Albert Rose to make it 1-0 and Renick Esther doubled their lead at 2-0 before Stenio Ernesta netted a consolation goal for Anse Reunion.
R. J-L.