Football: Transitional league |08 July 2019
Côte d’Or, Red Star Defence Forces win
Côte D’Or sneaked past Revengers 1-0 on Saturday, while La Passe and Anse Reunion drew 1-1 on La Digue. At Stad Linite, St Louis and St Michel shared the points in a 0-0 draw whereas on Friday evening, Red Star Defence Forces defeated Au Cap 2-1.
St Louis and St Michel in a stalemate
Gran Kaz Cup winners St Louis and their fierce rival St Michel shared a 0-0 draw at Stad Linite on Saturday afternoon as the central Mahé team preserved their unbeaten run in this Transitional league match.
The Mahé teams had been out of action for a while so it was a relief for the fans to watch two top teams in action on Saturday in ideal weather condition with St Michel the better side in the first half and they threatened to break the deadlock in the opening minute as young Norris Bibi raced from his own half to their opponents’ goal but he then shot tamely at Malagasy goalkeeper Michel.
Bibi had another decent chance in the 20th minute when he was released by skilful Malagasy Oliver Livakely but he shot in the side netting under pressure from defender Danny Madeleine.
St Louis, who were defending in numbers, had a half chance in the 23rd minute when St Michel’s Malagasy Francis, who was deployed in central defence in the absence of Yannick Manou, gave the ball away to striker Darien Hoareau but St Michel goalkeeper Jalyl Servina was alert to the danger as he closed down the young striker to snuff out the danger.
In the 39th minute, St Louis’ Gerick Vidot floated a free kick across the St Michel penalty area which filtered through to Dean Mothé who was in a good scoring position but he fired in the side netting.
Vidot though had the best chance in this first half to open the scoring from a Madeleine free kick on the right which came off a defender and fell invitingly to him inside the penalty area but his right footed shot sailed over the cross bar for a goalless first half.
St Louis though took the second half by the scruff of its neck as they put a lot of pressure on St Michel who looked disorganised in defence and in the 50th minute, Malagasy Tahiry floated a corner into the penalty area and Karl Hall’s towering header somehow deflected off a defender and into corner.
Three minutes later, St Louis striker, Malagasy Georges Kalo, floated a free kick into the penalty area which rebounded off the defensive wall and into the path of Vidot whose rasping shot was brilliantly tipped over by goalkeeper Servina.
St Louis continued to attack relentlessly in search of an opening goal and in the 67th minute Madeleine sent in an inch-perfect cross into the path of Hoareau who somehow could not tuck it home at the near post from close range.
The players of coach Michel Renaud went agonisingly close in the 88th minute from another Tahiry free kick which caused a mêlée in the St Michel penalty box and the loose ball broke to substitute Rick Padayachy who drove the ball just wide of the crossbar.
St Louis’ last chance to grab a winner came deep into injury time in the 95th minute of this match which was well handled by the trio of officials led by Kerens Yocette. It was from another free kick floated into the penalty area by Tahiry and was met by Madeleine’s glancing header at the near post but former St Louis custodian Servina produced a wonderful finger-tip save to keep the score blank and earn his team a point as this encounter ended on a 0-0 score though St Louis coach Michel Renaud felt his team deserved to win this match as they had total control in the second period after a cautious start.
“We started cautiously as we wanted to see what our opponents wanted to do in this encounter but in the second half, we exploited their weaknesses and came all out to win this match which we controlled for long periods and created a lot of chances but failed to score as we dropped two points, but we are satisfied generally with our performance,” explained St Louis head coach Renaud.
As for St Michel manager Andrew Jean-Louis, he was very unimpressed with his team’s showing and feels that they still have a lot of work to do before the new season kicks off.
“We played decently in the first half but we were very poor in the second period where we were disorganised and showed a lack of commitment and had no shots on target which is quite worrying and we need to improve drastically before the main competition starts next month,” claimed St Michel manager Jean-Louis whose side will face St Louis again later this week in the second round match which was postponed earlier this season.
Côte d’Or sneak past Revengers
Reigning SeyPearl league champions Côte d’Or sneaked past Revengers 1-0 at Stad Amitié on Saturday afternoon in the Inner Island Transitional league.
Côte d’Or opened the scoring through their prolific striker, Malagasy Kassah for a 1-0 lead at the interval.
They gave a debut in the second period to their new Malagasy midfielder, 28-year-old Jonah who joined them from Malagasy club AS Adema where he was the club captain but they did not fare well in this match where Revengers gave them plenty of food for thought before their final match against LightStars next week.
La Passe and Anse Reunion share the points
La Passe and their neighbours Anse Reunion shared the points in a 1-1 draw at the L’Union playing field on Saturday afternoon.
Malagasy Florent continued in his rich vein of form in front of goals as he made it 1-0 for his team.
Anse Reunion should have leveled the score after referee Nelson Emile awarded them a penalty in the second period but La Passe goalkeeper Basil Esther thwarted Warren Bibi from the penalty spot before Dieter Constance leveled the score at 1-1 with a nice shot.
The players of coach Basil Hoareau were awarded a second penalty of the match midway in this second half but once again goalkeeper Esther was defiant as he pushed out Malagasy Christophe’s spot kick as the two teams shared the points in a 1-1 draw.
Red Star Defence Forces beat Au Cap
Red Star Defence Forces beat Au Cap 2-1 on Friday evening at Stad Linite courtesy of a first half brace by Malagasy striker Jean Baptiste.
The army team’s new forward broke the deadlock in the 3rd minute somewhat controversially to give his team a 1-0 lead and he was at it again in the 36th minute for a 2-0 score at half-time.
Red Star Defence Forces should have killed off the contest in the 56th minute from a through ball by Rashim Padayachy to Malagasy Michel Nambintsoa who eluded a defender but shot in the side netting.
On the hour mark, Au Cap, who had fielded an all-Seychellois line-up for all their matches in this Transitional league competition, put a string of passes together involving Oliver Camille and Julio Denis to set up Justin Riaze but his shot lacked sting to trouble goalkeeper Audrick Hortense.
Red Star Defence Forces’ substitute Errol Bacco should have hit the target with a free glancing header in the 62nd minute from Barry Marie’s inswinging free kick but he miscued his header.
In the 75th minute Au Cap, who were playing with a 14-year-old in this match, was awarded a free kick by referee Dario Landrie and substitute and youth player Tyron Thomas blasted the ball into the roof of the net with a sweet left footer past goalkeeper Hortense to make it 1-2.
In the 88th minute Red Star Defence Forces again did not take their chances as Michel flashed the ball across the Au Cap goalmouth which was missed by Jean Baptiste and Bacco failed to drill it home as he shot wide.
They were almost made to pay for their misses in the dying seconds of this encounter when Dean Balette bore forward and fired a thunderous shot which looked goal bound but goalkeeper Hortense made a fantastic one-handed save to salvage all the points for his team and at the end of the match, coach Nigel Freminot praised his goaltender for this incredible save to give them all the points.
“We had a good first half where we should have scored more goals but our opponents improved in the second period while we lowered our game and in the end we had to thank our goalkeeper for earning us all the points with a great save in the dying minutes,” Red Star Defence Forces coach Freminot said.
As for Au Cap manager Nichol Dogley, he reflected on this Transitional league where his team had used it to assess their young local players and he was very impressed with what they have shown.
“We used this competition to give our young local players some ample playing time and their performances have been encouraging as now we will bring in all our foreign players for the league but for this match, it was a good encounter though the opponents’ first goal was due to an officiating error. But we raised our game in the second half and could even have won a point, so we are generally satisfied with our performance,” manager Dogley told Sports NATION.
R. J-L.