RED STAR 3 ARMENIENNE 0 (1-0)
Division d'Honneur Week 5
Stade Bauer, 26/09/04
Attendance 300 - referee : Pascal Poupeau assisted by Frédéric Callevaert & Stéphane Gandrille - sunny
Goals : Diomande (32), Tandia (48), Hamme (86)
Booked : Hammami (15), Tandia (49), Sinobad (80), Hamme (90) - Brouillon (38)
Subs : Brouillon by Berete (44), Mosesian by Beuvard (45) -Benmesmoudi by Hamme (70), N’Simba by Budoc (79), Baldé by Gassama (80)
RED STAR : Bell (1), Hammami (2), Diomande (3), Yessad (4), Fourneuf (5), N’Simba (6), Sinobad (7), Abdallah (8), Tandia (9), Benmesmoudi (10), Baldé (11), Budoc (12), Gassama (13), Hamme (14) Coach : Jean-Luc Girard
ARMENIENNE : Cabouret (1), Annicette (2), Konate (3), Brouillon (4), Neveux (5), Elzayati (6), Chalqi (7), Malki (8), Mosesian (9), Akoun (10), Jalliti (11), Beuvard (12), Charles (13), Berete (14) Coach : Vincent Yazmadjian
L-r: Benmesmoudi, Abdallah, Yessad, Fourneuf (hidden), Tandia, Baldé, Gassama, N’Simba, Benmesmoudi & Bell
WE HAVE LIFT-OFF ?
A day of firsts at Saint-Ouen. First home win of the season. First championship start for Aboubacar Tandia, Red Stars' lanky two-goal cup hero last weekend. First goal for the ex-Aulnay striker. First appearance for the livewire Jimmy Hamme, as well as his first goal. But perhaps the most important of all the firsts could be the first win ever in competitive football against Arménienne.
Last season the club from Issy "did" Red Star home and away, absorbing Red Stars' attacking game, stifling the play before hitting on the counter-attack.
For the opening twenty or so minutes it appeared that they had come to Bauer with the same intention. Red Star were dominating, Tandia and Baldé were getting a good supply of balls from midfield and in particular the cultured Abdallah but the visitors' defence held firm.
Full-back Kaba Diomande had already put in one or two powerful runs down Red Stars' left, and it was from one of these runs that the home side were finally rewarded for their endeavour. On the half-hour, linking nicely with his captain N'Simba, DIOMANDE took the ball to the dead ball line, cut back and with Cabouret and his defence expecting a cross, Kaba did the unexpected and fired a low shot under the body of the goalkeeper into the far side of the net. (1-0). As with any game against teams like Arménienne, the most important is to get the first goal. This means that the visitors are forced to open their game up a bit, and go forwards rather than closing down their opponents. But Red Star continued to dominate, and with efforts from Hammami, Baldé and Tandia all going close, the greens could very well have sealed the game up by half time. Just before the break Red Star appeared to have took the pedal off the gas somewhat and the ever-dangerous Akoun nearly drew the sides level. But with Yessad and Fourneuf imperial in defence, the score remained unchanged as the sides went for the pause.
After the break the visitors continued to press, but three minutes after the restart Red Star doubled their lead with what from the stands appeared to be a simple goal, but in reality was extremely well-worked. Baldé did the spadework, carving out an opening down the left to centre for the powerful TANDIA to score his first goal for the club in league football (2-0).
Again the goal served to awaken slumbering Arménienne, but despite the endeavour of Akoun and co. the visitors couldn't break through the green and white wall, firstly presented by the hard-working Sinobad and N'Simba, then the solid partnership of Yessad and Fourneuf. The best chance fell to Akoun, a wonderful cross which he controlled magnificently, bringing the ball down on to his shooting foot before leathering the ball high and wide. On the few occasions that Red Stars' defence did give way, Yann Bell between the sticks saved the day with a couple of very high-class saves, once in the feet of the onrushing attacker.
Jimmy Hamme made his début as a substitute, with Arménienne legs feeling heavy he tormented his markers. With four minutes remaining it was the ex-Châteauroux youngster who sealed the win with a low drive which wrong-footed Cabouret before going into the net (3-0, HAMME).
So a fine win, fully deserved and Red Star looked every bit championship material. With the cultured Abdallah in midfield spraying inch-perfect passes to the forwards, a solid defence of Yessad and Fourneuf together with the powerful runs and tackling of Hammami and Diomande, N'Simba and Sinobad not giving an inch in midfield things are starting to fall into place. Up front the power and determination of the natural goal scorer Tandia adds a new dimension to Red Stars' strike force that was lacking in recent games.
This is only the beginning, there is a mighty long way to go, but with quality performances like this Red Star might just yet be on the right tracks.
© AllezRedStar.com 2004