Football: SeyPearl Premier League |16 December 2019

Warren Mellie and Ryan Henriette (in green) scored for Foresters to maintain their unbeaten run

Côte d’Or, Foresters close gap on leaders

Defending league champions Côte d’Or swept aside La Digue side Anse Réunion 5-0 at Stad Amitié on Saturday while on La Digue, Foresters sneaked past La Passe 2-1 to close the gap on league leaders St Michel. On Friday, Northern Dynamo beat LightStars 2-0 away and Revengers defeated Au Cap 6-4 on Saturday afternoon at Stad Linite.

Côte d’Or batter Anse Réunion

League champions Côte d’Or battered La Digue outfit Anse Reunion 5-0 at Stad Amitié on Saturday afternoon to remain in third position with two games in hand to complete their first round of league matches.

Perry Monnaie scored twice in the opening minutes to make it 2-0 and Malagasy Kassah also got on the score sheet for a 3-0 first half score.

Kassah scored again in the second half to make it 4-0 and Ugandan striker Tony Kizito netted the reigning league champions’ fifth goal for a comfortable 5-0 result.

Foresters squeeze past La Passe

Foresters maintained their unbeaten run with a narrow 2-1 triumph against La Passe at the L’Union playing field on Saturday afternoon.

Foresters went close in the first half when Ryan Henriette, who had replaced the injured Leroy Corallie, hit the post in the 42nd minute for a goalless first half.

Foresters’ defender Warren Mellie broke the deadlock in the 47th minute as his shot from the edge of the penalty flew past goalkeeper Dave Mussard for a 1-0 lead.

La Passe though, who lost at home to Côte d’Or the previous week, drew level in the 65th minute from a strike by Kevin Radegonde to make it 1-1.

Foresters then snatched all three points in the 87th minute from Ryan Henriette’s cross which deflected off La Passe captain Senky Vidot to wrong foot goalkeeper Mussard for a 2-1 final score.

However, this match ended on a bad note when referee Emile Fred was hit as he headed to the changing room after the match. This is an incident that the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF) must investigate and take serious action against the culprits who physically assaulted the official in a venue where there was no security which is of major concern.

The win though helps Foresters to leapfrog La Passe into second place with 24 points, three behind league leaders St Michel but with two games in hand and their coach Harold Hoareau told Sports NATION that it was a difficult match but he felt his team deserved to win.

Revengers survive Au Cap scare

Praslin side Revengers survived a late second half scare from bottom club Au Cap to triumph 6-4 at Stad Linite in a goals galore encounter watched by quite a small crowd.

Revengers opened the floodgates in this match with only 50 seconds on the clock from a pass forward by Malagasy Zenith to Henry Dugasse whose cross was easily walked home by Malagasy Marthelin to make it 1-0.

Au Cap should have levelled the score in the 9th minute from a mistake by Revengers defender Antoine Charif but young Wallus Mondon shot straight at goalkeeper Gino Melanie.

Revengers stretched their lead in the 36th minute when Laurent Marie linked up with Marthelin who slipped a pass to Danio François who raced clear to place the ball past Au Cap goalkeeper Julio Marie for a 2-0 score.

François bagged his brace a minute later when Laurent Marie blocked a clearance to release him and he made no mistake from close range to grab his second goal and make it 3-0.

Au Cap reduced the arrears in the 38th minute from Rico Cherry’s through ball to Wallus Mondon who beat Revengers’ offside trap to lob goalkeeper Melanie and bring the score to 1-3 score.

Revengers should have regained their three-goal cushion on the stroke of half-time when they were awarded a penalty by referee Nelson Emile for a clumsy handball by Medrick Jean-Baptiste but Marthelin stepped up for the spot kick and fired it way over the cross bar.

The players of coach Neddy Rose netted a fourth goal in the 57th minute as Marthelin fed Marco Dubel who skipped past Carlos Andre to drill the ball low into the bottom corner for a 4-1 advantage.

Au Cap though began a fight back as Thierry Camille scored with a glorious 25-metre free kick which flew into the top corner on the hour mark with goalkeeper Melanie well beaten to make it 2-4.

In the 62nd minute, Au Cap defender Gavin Domingue swung a free kick into the penalty area and the shortest player on the pitch Wallus Mondon rose to steer his header into the net for a 3-4 scoreline.

Revengers though added a fifth goal in the 66th minute from a teasing ball by substitute Darren Leon over the Au Cap defence to Zenith whose initial shot was blocked by goalkeeper Marie but he headed the hanging ball into the net to make it 5-3 with Au Cap players protesting in vain with the officials for an offside decision.

Au Cap cut the deficit in the 71st minute as they poured forward and Medrick Jean-Baptiste’s cross sailed to Cherry at the far post and his raking shot trickled through a forest of legs and into the far corner and make it 4-5.

Coached by Roger Labonté, Au Cap, who have parted company with their two Ghanaian players namely Jonas Baffoe and Emmanuel Armah and were playing with an all-Seychellois line-up, went agonisingly close to levelling the score in the 76th minute from substitute Roberto Ally’s cross which goalkeeper Melanie came for but missed and the ball fell to Camille but his glancing header crashed against the crossbar before the danger was cleared.

Laurent Marie settled the nerves of the Praslin team in the 84th minute from Zenith’s fiercely driven free kick and he guided the ball into the net with a tap-in at the near post in a crowd of players for a final 6-4 scoreline in this very entertaining match.

Au Cap club president Nichol Dogley was quite buoyed by the performance of his young team especially as they had managed to score quite a number of goals.

“We decided to opt for an all-Seychellois squad for the time being and it was quite an encouraging performance especially as we scored plenty of goals which has been some  of our weaknesses this season and we will see if we need to bring new foreign players when the league resumes in January,” Dogley told Sports NATION.

As for Revengers coach Neddy Rose, he was unhappy with his players’ complacent attitude in this match which almost slipped from their grasp in the second half after a good start.

“We were too casual and took things too easy in a match where we had wanted to score plenty of goals but we did not play as a team as the players became too selfish and it made things difficult but thankfully we won,” the Revengers coach related to Sports NATION.

Northern Dynamo register away win over LightStars

Northern Dynamo avenged their first-round loss to LightStars as they won 2-0 at Stad Amitié against these same opponents on Friday afternoon.

Northern Dynamo scored twice in the first half courtesy of a brace from their Malagasy striker Rajamana to inflict a second home defeat on the team of coach Ted Esther to help them maintain their fourth position in the league standings.

R. J-L.