Football: SeyPearl Premier League |30 September 2019

St Michel, La Passe stay unbeaten

St Michel edged bitter rivals St Louis 1-0 at Stad Linite on Saturday afternoon to maintain their three-match unbeaten run in the SeyPearl Premier league while on La Digue, La Passe sneaked past 10-man LightStars 1-0 at the L’Union playing field and on Praslin, Anse Reunion defeated Revengers 2-1. On Friday, Northern Dynamo beat nine-man Victoria City 3-1 at Stad Linite.

St Michel edge St Louis in derby match

St Michel edged St Louis 1-0 at Stad Linite to remain unbeaten in three matches in the SeyPearl Premier League and at the same time inflict a second defeat on their rivals.

St Michel were quick off the blocks as they broke the deadlock as early as the 2nd minute from Malagasy Hassan Aly’s cross to his countryman Olivier Livakely who volleyed superbly into the roof of the net as St Louis’ defence was caught off guard for a 1-0 lead.

St Louis then took charge of the game with plenty of possession but a lack of penetration in the third part of the field hampered their progress.

The players of coach Rodney Choisy had a decent chance in the 23rd minute when Malagasy Tahiry pounced on a defensive mistake to drive at the St Michel defence before slipping the ball to Gervais Waye-Hive whose shot was smothered by goalkeeper Alvin Michel.

Five minutes later, Jude Nancy picked out Dorian Hoareau in the St Michel penalty area with a well-weighted pass but the young striker hurried his header which sailed over the crossbar when he had more time to test goalkeeper Michel.

In the 43rd minute, St Louis had a half chance from Waye-Hive’s deep corner which was met by defender Juninho Mathiot at the far post but his volley flew just wide for a 1-0 score at half-time.

St Michel showed more attacking intention in the second half and there was a moment of controversy in the 55th minute when St Louis goalkeeper, Malagasy Michel seemed to stamp on his countryman Evariste who was lying on the floor as he tried to boot the ball forward quickly to launch a St Louis attack but referee Dario Landrie booked him and played a drop ball instead of a penalty while the St Michel players claimed for the foul on Evariste.

St Louis huffed and puffed but failed to create a decent scoring opportunity while St Michel twice threatened to stretch their advantage such as in the 84th minute when Aly whipped in a brilliant cross to substitute Francis whose instinctive near post shot was just kept out by goalkeeper Michel.

St Michel went close again in third minute of added time from a counter attack by Aly who sprung forward and threaded the ball to the speedy Francis but goalkeeper Michel stopped him in his stride to cut out the danger.

St Michel though had done enough against a lacklustre opponent to maintain their title challenge and their manager Andrew Jean-Louis was happy with the final result.

“We are quite pleased with the result which keeps us in the leading pack and stay unbeaten. It was also especially nice to beat one of the title contenders in a match where they were out of sorts and we should have capitalised on their poor showing to score more goals,” St Michel manager Jean-Louis told Sports NATION.

As for St Louis manager Devis Khan, he was very unhappy with his players’ poor showing in this derby match which had a lot of pride at stake.

“We played very poorly as the players did not follow instructions given to them and it was a very unacceptable performance against a much hungrier opponent and we must get back to winning ways very soon after two losses,” the St Louis manager related to Sports NATION.

La Passe beat 10-man LightStars

La Digue side La Passe beat 10-man LightStars 1-0 at the L’Union playing field on Saturday afternoon to maintain their bright start to the season and preserve their three-match winning streak in the SeyPearl Premier League.

Malagasy Florent opened the scoring in the 12th minute for a 1-0 lead at half-time.

LightStars then had Albert Rose shown a straight red card by referee Nelson Emile for an off-the-ball incident with goal scorer Florent.

The players of coach Ted Esther had the chance to draw level when they won a penalty in the dying minutes of this encounter but Malagasy Paul Bruyelle was denied from the spot by national team goalkeeper Ian Ah-Kong as the players of coach Bruno Saindini have nine points to be among the league leaders.

Anse Reunion sweep aside Revengers

La Digue outfit Anse Reunion swept past Revengers 2-1 at Stad Amitié on Saturday afternoon.

The players of coach Basil Hoareau went ahead when new Malagasy striker Yavo opened his account for his new side for a 1-0 score at the interval.

Anse Reunion added a second goal minutes after the resumption of play in the second half courtesy of a strike by Stenio Ernesta to make it 2-0 but Revengers striker Marthelin netted for the home team but it was too little too late for the players of coach Neddy Rose who suffered their first defeat in the league.

Northern Dynamo down City

Northern Dynamo defeated Victoria City 3-1 at Stad Linite on Friday evening with the same three scorers that had sunk Red Star-Defence Forces the previous week once again on the score sheet for this northern club.

Northern Dynamo took the lead in the 14th minute from the penalty spot when Malagasy Patrick Rasaminana converted past goalkeeper Ritchie Dubel to make it 1-0 and Gambian striker Musa Njie added a second in the 43rd minute for a 2-0 lead at the interval.

Lucas Panayi increased Northern Dynamo’s lead with his second goal in two matches for a 3-0 score on the hour mark but Victoria City captain Leroy Chetty reduced the arrears in the 62nd minute for a final 3-1 result as City finished the match with nine men when Ryan Labrosse was shown a second yellow card on the stroke of fulltime by referee Emile Fred and earlier, Italian Mario Ferri was shown a straight red card for dangerous play as the team of coach Joel Decommarmond suffered their third loss in three matches.

R. J-L.