Football: SeyPearl Premier League |07 December 2020

Foresters celebrated in style for the opening goal

Foresters, La Passe, Côte d’Or, St John Bosco win

Defending SeyPearl-sponsored Premier League champions Foresters saw off the challenge of St Michel in a 2-1 victory at Stad Linite on Saturday afternoon and on Praslin, Côte d’Or controversially sneaked past Revengers 1-0 at Stad Amitié and on La Digue, 10-man La Passe defeated their neighbours Anse Reunion 2-0, while on Friday, St John Bosco edged Real Maldives 1-0.

Foresters get past St Michel

The 2019-2020 SeyPearl-sponsored Premier League champions Foresters held off the challenge of St Michel in a hard fought 2-1 victory at Stad Linite on Saturday afternoon.

St Michel came out strongly in this match and Yannick Julie failed to connect to Malagasy Evariste’s pass at the back post in the opening minute to waste a clear chance.

In the 7th minute, the same Julie this time connected to Evariste’s corner in a carbon copy situation but Foresters goalkeeper Kitson Cecile cleared the danger.

Foresters responded in the 17th minute from Ryan Henriette’s deep cross to Jean-Yves Ernesta who set up Malagasy Jean Tigana whose right foot shot flew agonisingly wide.

A minute later, Foresters went ahead when Henriette turned Kieren Sinon inside out and the former Red Star Defence Forces defender was adjudged to have handled the ball by referee Emile Fred who pointed to the penalty spot.

Tigana stepped up to send goalkeeper Alvin Michel the wrong way to make it 1-0 and on the hour mark, Ernesta should have added a second for the Mont Fleuri-based side after Henriette centered to him but he fired wide a great chance for a 1-0 score at half-time.

St Michel came out for the second period with more urgency and were duly reward in the 68th minute when Foresters failed to clear their lines and from Evariste’s corner Malagasy Francis stabbed the ball home to make it 1-1 in the 68th minute.

St Michel goalkeeper Alvin Michel was guilty of a horrendous error in the 73rd minute as he failed to clear Foresters captain Kenner Nourrice’s pass to Henriette and the speedy winger collected the loose ball to drill it into an empty net to restore their team’s lead at 2-1 as the St Michel custodian was left devastated for this horrible mistake.

St Michel tried to push for an equaliser and were lucky not to concede a third goal in the 80thminute when Nigerian Kazeem Adeyeri went on a mazy run to glide past two defenders and he picked out Tigana on the edge of the penalty area. Tigana should have scored but allowed substitute Gerard Basset to block his shot, but the players of coach Harold Hoareau held on to beat their great rivals and their coach felt it was a deserved win.

“It was a good result as we played well and had numerous chances to score. We also remained disciplined in defence for a hard fought win,” Foresters coach Hoareau told Sports NATION.

As for St Michel manager Andrew Jean-Louis, he was pleased with his team’s performance despite the loss.

“Our performance today gives us hope that we will have a good season and I have my doubts about the penalty decision while the second goal, it was understandable from a mistake by our goalkeeper but we kept fighting and we hope to bounce back from this loss,” the St Michel manager said.

La Passe down Anse Reunion

Ten-man La Passe defeated their neighbours and bitter rivals Anse Reunion 2-0 at the L’Union playing field on Saturday afternoon.

Afsad Abdou opened the scoring to make it 1-0 before Elton Monnaie was sent off close to half-time by referee Dario Landrie for two yellow cards.

Playing with 10 men, La Passe held on and scored a second goal late in the match courtesy of a strike by Brandon Fanchette for a final 2-0 scoreline.

Côte d’Or sneak past Revengers

Côte d’Or sneaked past Revengers 1-0 at Stad Amitié playing on Saturday afternoon in a highly contentious match.

Cliff Cesar scored the only goal late in the match to give the President’s Cup winners all three points in a match which Revengers coach Neddy Rose was unhappy with the official.

The Revengers coach felt his goalkeeper needed more protection especially as his number one Densley Joubert had to be replaced in the first half after a clash with Côte d’Or striker Perry Monnaie.

In the second period their reserve goalkeeper Johanes Pouponneau also had to be replaced after he was fouled leading to the goal by Cliff Cesar and they had to play defender Roy Estro in goal for the dying minutes.

St John Bosco edge Real Maldives

St John Bosco edged Real Maldives 1-0 at Stad Linite on Friday evening in a battle of the two newly promoted teams in the Premiership.

Bosco struck early in this match as midfielder Randolph Elizabeth scored past goalkeeper Madrid Adrienne in the opening five minutes to make it 1-0 at half-time.

The players of coach Vivian Bothe, who had to play second fiddle to the Anse Etoile-based club last season who finished as Championship One league winners which however is still being contested by the Pointe Larue-based team, kept their opponents at bay in the second period to claim their first three points in the top flight and condemn their bitter rivals to their second defeat in two matches.

However, St John Bosco’s victory was slightly tarnished by the late sending off of striker Thierry Camille by referee Elderick Adelaide for two yellow cards ‒ the second for time wasting.

R. J-L.