Football: Transitional league division one |11 July 2019

Red Star Defence Forces rip apart Victoria City

Red Star Defence Forces ripped apart Victoria City 4-0 in a Transitional league division one match on Tuesday afternoon at Stad Linite.

Red Star Defence Forces showed their intention early on in this match as they took the match to their opponents and found a breakthrough in the 21st minute from Malagasy Jean-Baptist’s free kick which goalkeeper Randolph Bijoux kept out but the danger was not cleared and when the ball was played in the box by Barry Marie it took a wicked deflection off Italian player Franscesco Rocchi to wrong foot goalkeeper Bijoux for a 1-0 lead for the army team.

Jean Baptiste should have done better just past the half hour mark when he pounced on a through ball by Rashim Padayachy to bore on goal but his shot was well stopped by a vigilant goalkeeper Bijoux for a 1-0 score at half-time.

Victoria City made three substitutions in the second period but Red Star Defence Forces upped the tempo and should have gone further ahead in the 50thminute when Kieren Sinon released Darrel Damoo who failed miserably to lob goalkeeper Bijoux.

The players of coach Nigel Freminot continued to press and a minute later, Marie flashed a teasing cross across the City goalmouth which Jean Baptist drilled at goalkeeper Bijoux who produced a point blank save and the ball broke invitingly to Damoo who amazingly shot wide with the goal begging.

In the 55th minute, Malagasy Michel Nambintsoa threaded a pass to Jean Baptist who looked clearly offside but was not flagged by assistant referee Julio Agathine but the Malagasy striker fired wide with the goal at his mercy.  

Red Star Defence Forces’ pressure paid off in the 62nd minute when Jean-Baptist, who again looked suspiciously offside but was not indicated, raced clear to centre in the box where the ball was inadvertently diverted into his own goal by retreating defender Eddy Bistoé as City gave away their second own goal of the match for a 2-0 score.

Five minutes later, Malagasy Nambintsoa drove a free kick in the penalty area which bounced off Maria and hit the post as City rode their luck.

Maria though got on the scoring act in the 74th minute from a strong run by Nambintsoa to glide past a couple of defenders and then laid the ball on a plate to the former Northern Dynamo striker who rifled low from the edge of the penalty area and the ball flew past goalkeeper Bijoux for a 3-0 lead.

Red Star Defence Forces rounded up the scoring at 4-0 in the 77th minute from a long ball which the City defence failed to clear to let in Damoo who rode a couple of tackles to ram the ball home to make amends for a series of glaring misses as the players of coach Freminot registered their best win this season which will be a big boost before they clash with their former coach Harold Hoareau’s side Foresters this Friday.

“It was a very good win as we managed to keep a clean sheet and score a few goals though we should have won by a wider margin as we maintained this momentum throughout the match for the first time this season and we are quite pleased with our performance,” Red Star Defence Forces coach Freminot said.

As for Victoria City head coach Steve Herbots, he said that this result did not matter to his team that had just resumed training after a three-week break in their preparation.

“We have just returned to training as we had taken a planned break because we felt we needed to give the players some time off to prepare for the main league season so this encounter was just like a friendly match as we faced a team of international players who are at the top of their form and who are readying themselves for the Indian Ocean Island Games while we have had just a two-hour training session which makes this result irrelevant,” explained the City coach.

R. J-L.