RED STAR 3 BRETIGNY 1 (ht 2-1)
DH round 12
Stade Bauer 12/12/04
Attendance : 150 - referee Serge Poupet assisted byAbdeloihab Fares & Joël Carlier - bloody cold !
Booked : Cuervo (46), Hammami (71) - Noumassana (16)
Subs : Cuervo by Hammami (61), Fourneuf by Aklouche (70), Hamdani by Gassama (74) - Noumassana by Toukara (71), Guffroy by Samé (74), Colombel by Louesdon (87)
Goals : Tandia (25), Hamdani (30), Benmesmoudi (69) - Colombel (24)
RED STAR : Bell (1), Dao (2), Diomande (3), Yessad (4), Fourneuf (5), N’Simba (6), Hamdani (7), Abdallah (8), Tandia (9), Benmesmoudi (10), Cuervo (11). Rempl : Hammami (12), Aklouche (13), Gassama (14). Coach : Jean-Luc Girard
BRETIGNY : Zinsou (1), Janvier (2), Noumassana (3), Gnakpa (4), Gand (5), Sylla (6), Guffroy (7), Placidoux (8), Boumezoued (9), Koïté (10), Colombel (11), Louesdon (12), Tounkara (13), Samé (14). Coach : Didier Brillant
Taïeb Abdallah : "That way, Reevis"
RED STAR COME BACK TO WIN
For the first time since, er, a long time, Red Star came back from behind to record a well-deserved win. Games at Bauer often have the same pattern: Red Star press, the others hit back on the counter and hang on to beat Red Star, sometimes even stealing a second goal against the run of play. Not this time. For the first twenty-odd minutes, it was the visitors who looked more likely to score, and were rewarded for their attacking endeavours with a well-taken goal on twenty four minutes as Colombel lobbed Yann Bell who had advanced a little too far from his goal. (0-1).
This stung Red Star, and in particular Aboubacar Tandia into action. Brétignys' lead lasted one minute, as Red Star pushed forwards, a lovely ball found TANDIA eight yards out, and despite the presence of the visitors' goalie and a defender on the line, the lanky goal machine curled a peach of a shot into the top corner (see photo below).
Bend it like Beckham: Aboubacar Tandia equalises
Red Star really needed to score again quickly to settle nerves, and five minutes later Ahmed HAMDANI broke clear of the defence and lashed an unstoppable shot past Zinsou to give Red Star the lead (2-1).
Just before the break the Brétigny custodian dived bravely at the feet of Tandia to prevent a certain goal and injured himself in the process. Fortunately he was able to continue, albeit groggily for a while. Until the pause the visitors' dominated without really troubling Bell. Fourneuf was called into action to deviate a goal-bound shot as Red Star held on until half-time. After the break Red Star stepped up a gear and dominated affairs. Kicking towards the Bauer end, each attack was greeted by a noisy reception from the home supporters, extremely vociferous despite the freezing temperatures.
Finally with twenty minutes left Red Star finaly put daylight between the two sides. The goal was fair reward for the endeavours of Azzedine Benmesmoudi, who had worked hard all afternoon down the left side, often without support and equally often deprived of decent passes from his team mates. Hamdani linked up with the classy Abdallah to fire across a tempting center, missed by Tandia but taken gleefully by BENMESMOUDI who smashed the ball home past Zinsou. (3-1).
The last twenty minutes or so proved to be a real test for Red Star as Brétigny pressed forwards. But the home side showed a fighting never-say-die spirit, at times accompanied by a bit of improvisation to defend their lead. Firstly the influential Fourneuf had to leave the action, which meant that Bilal Hammami who had earlier replaced the tiring Phil Cuervo dropped back into the central defence to partner his friend Nabile Yessad. Then striker Hamdani had to leave the action with a thigh strain, Gassama taking his place. A re-shuffle took place, with Benmesmoudi dropping back into a central midfield role. However, with all three subs on, disaster struck as Kaba Diomande went down under a heavy challenge. After treatment he could not continue, so Red Star continued with ten men, the youngster Aklouche dropping back to fill the left-back position, a task he performed admirably with some tenacious tackling and lots of spirit. Worse was to come as Tandia, who earlier spurned a glorious chance to make it four, finding the upright with the goalie beaten, limped to one side after getting his foot stuck in the heavy pitch whilst shooting. With Red Star at nine, the team performed like heros to fully deserve the win and the standing ovation from their delirious supporters at the final whistle.
Brétigny are nothing like the dour outfit Red Star met twice last season. New coach Didier Brillant (no not Danny Brillant, Gérard, he's a singer) has changed the style of play to be more open. But as happens so often in the DH, attacking play does not guarantee wins, and unattractive defensive teams like Cosmo lead the way in the championship.
As for Red Star, a battling performance which hopefully has shattered the myth that he who scores first at Bauer wins the game. They came from behind to deserve the win, the second in two games. Bravo to Reevis N'Simba and his men.
© AllezRedStar.com 2004