MATCH REPORTS 2003-2004  RED STAR FC 93

CS MEAUX 1
RED STAR 1 (0-0)
Division Honneur (week 5)
Stade Corazza 27/9/2003

Goals : Karalambrides (90) - Desmarets (90)
Attendance : 200 spectateurs - referee : M. Rouinsard
Booked : Glombiowski (30), Beugre (42), Karalambrides (47), Lacaille (89) - Diomande (26), Jalliti (48), Fellahi (71)

MEAUX : Diop, Glombiowski, M’Bodge, Beugre, K. Doukha, Kébé, Janrowski, Karalambrides, Filtner, Luzolo, Villain (Guay 40). Subs: Lacaille, Da Fonseca. Coach: J. Hachoud.
RED STAR : Néret, Carles, Diomande, Cuervo, Guei, Jalliti, Delaneuville, Budoc (Fellahi 66) Balde, Desmarets, Latt-Agnes (Fissirou 46). Sub: Hammami. Coach: A. Méguellatti.
AllezRedStar.com man of the match: Yves Desmarets

Meaux - Red Star
Red Star prepare to face Meaux

ELEVEN MEN WENT TO MEAUX...

..but there wasn't much of a meadow when they got there... more like a concrete jungle. But more of that later.
Basically, the whole match might well have been compressed into the six or so minutes that the referee found to add on at the end of the regulation ninety. Firstly, Red Star managed to break out from a stranglehold that the home side had put on them, Yves DESMARETS bringing the ball from his own half, and with a three-on-two situation, he wisely ignored the overlapping Fissirou to rasp home a low drive from the edge of the box (0-1). The drive eluded the otherwise excellent Diop to nestle in the bottom right-hand corner. Elation for the visitors and their fans, who believed that Red Star had performed the perfect smash-and-grab raid against a team lacking in confidence in front of goal.
The joy was to be short-lived, however, when a free-kick was needlessly conceded with the clock ticking on in overtime. From a good twenty five yards out, the free kick found the head of Karalambrides who placed the ball past Néret. (1-1). Elation for the home side - after all it was the first goal scored in the league this season, a wait of around seven and a half hours. From the (over) reaction of the home supporters, it was as if they had won the league and the cup double, rather than earning a draw against uninspiring visitors.
In only the seventh minute, the man most likely to do the damage for Red Star, André Latt-Agnes was felled by a hard tackle, and although he managed to take the field again following lengthy off-pitch treatment, he never really got back into the game, and limped off at half time to be replaced by the ineffective Fissirou. Latt-Agnes really ought to have opened the scoring early on in the game, a shot from Balde was parried into the path of the burly Red Star man, but from close range he blazed the ball over the bar.
Afterwards, Meaux started to come more and more into the game, and Red Stars' midfield duo of Jalliti and Yoann Delaneuville worked tirelessly to close down the threat. Diomande, a starter for once, got off to a bad start and received an early yellow card before settling into a resonably efficient partnership with Cuervo. Nevertheless Meaux did get through and it was only some execrable finishing that kept the score at nil nil. On more than one occasion to score would have been easier, but the Meaux forwards shot wide, or over the bar or straight at the goalie.

The second half continued in a similar vein to the first, with neither side managing to put the ball into the net. The Meaux keeper Diop proved to be able in front of a lightweight Red Star attack with only Desmarets really threatening - a free kick just narrowly over proving to be his best chance. As the ninety minutes expired, injury time went on to provide its two moments of drama.
On the balance, a fair result, Red Star were hanging on for a draw, when Desmarets scored... afterwards the equaliser, and Red Star seemed to be crestfallen, whereas it might be debateable if they actually merited the victory. It would have been an injustice to Meaux, in all honesty, but for us the fans we feel as if it was two points thrown away all the same.
Meaux, the name conjures up images of a small market town famous for its cathedral and its Brie cheese. Unless I took a wrong turn, and went to the wrong Meaux, the reality was quite the opposite. The stadium is located in the middle of an estate of decaying sixties tower blocks. I feared for the security of my car in the car park. To get into the car park one has to drive through a gate where just one inch each side separates wing mirrors from potential catastrophe. The ground is compact, one main stand and the rest of the ground is open.. behind the left-hand goal is no-mans land and behind that the tower blocks loom. All through the match a youth on a rather loud motorcycle impressed his mates and deafened the neighbourhood with his wheelies... a gang watched the match from a grass bank. The pitch itself was surrounded by a very high fence, no doubt to protect the players and officials.
Meaux itself is in the Paris League, but it took a good hour and seventy-odd kilometers to get there. The map drawn from the web implied that the stadium is smack in the center of town... more like in the center of smack. I doubt very much if I'll bother again if we don't get out of this league, or if Meaux or us don't go down.

SOME MATCH PHOTOS

Meaux
Meaux stifle Red Star

Meaux   Meaux
Left - where's the meadow ? Right - the main stand

Meaux   Meaux
Left: Philippe Cuervo. Right : goalie Diop and Latt-Agnes.

Meaux   Meaux
The injury to Latt-Agnes

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MATCH REPORTS 2003-2004

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