CFA round 34
Saturday 26th May 2007
RED STAR 2 POISSY 4 (1-4)
Attendance 469 - referee : Stéphane Mombert assisted by Cédric Rico & Patrick Couret
Goals : Ouattara (16), Buval (62) - Haddadou (7), Coulibaly (11 & 34), Raddas (24) - Ouattara (16), Buval (62)
Substitutions : Kemas by N'Simba (45), Ouattara by Buval (55), Lefort by NSeke (83)
RED STAR FC 93 : DJIDONOU (1), LACOMAT (2), DIOMANDE (3), KANGULUNGU (4), FOURNEUF, cap. (5), OUATTARA (6), MARQUET (7), DIAWARA (8), KEMAS (9), BENMESMOUDI (10), LEFORT (11). Subs : NSEKE (12), TOUNKARA (13), N'SIMBA (14), BUVAL (15), DIAKITE (16). Coach : Bruno NAIDON
POISSY : MAGNIEZ, cap. (), MOYSAN (2), SERRA (3), LARBI (4), ZENATI (5), LE BIGOT (6), HADDADOU (7), JBARA (8), COULIBALY (9), MEUNIER (10), RADDAS (11). Subs : LONDAS (12), MBIZI (13), SAKHO (14), DIABATI (15), MBODJI (16). Coach : Dominique GOMIS
Assistant coach Alphonse Luraschi bids farewell to Red Star before joining DH club Choisy-le-Roi
MORE OF A WHIPER THAN A BANG
Red Star closed their first CFA campaign with a disappointing 4-2 home defeat at the hands of local rivals Poissy. With holidays just around the corner, it appeared as if the Red Star defence were already unrolling their towels on the beach as they let Poissy storm into an early lead, through, it has to be said, some woeful defending. In fairness to Poissy, however, the duo of Adam Coulibaly and Fabien Raddas were playing a blinder, completely relaxed and just playing the game as it should be played. Haddadou struck first, on seven minutes before most Red Star fans had taken their seats. With Kaba Diomande compeletely lost in defence, huge spaces opened up down the left hand side, allowing Poissy to grab that important early lead. Mickaël Marquet was having to do two jobs, tracking back to try and cover the gaps left by his team mate. The second goal was gifted to the visitors by Red Stars' central defenders, allowing Coulibaly to beat a flat-footed offside trap and beat Djidonou. In the meantime, Moussa OUATTARA pulled one back for Red Star, finishing off a neat move involving Kemas and Marquet and looping a lovely shot past the stranded Magniez (1-2). Moments later Red Star found themselves two goals in arrears once again as Fourneuf tried to dribble the ball out of defence, lost the ball and Raddas took advantange of the mistake to crudicfy Djidonou.
Poissy then for some reason started to rock and Red Star had three wonderful chances to make it 3-2. Firstly Benmesmoudi won a one one one challenge with Magniez, but with the open goal in front, somehow managed to hit the post. Lefort then sent a difficult chance sailing over the bar, but Kemas should have buried the simplest of occasions from only six yards out. Instead the ball sailed harmlessly high and wide.
These let-offs proved to be costly again to Bruno Naidons' men, as Ouattara, playing in an unacustomed central midfield role lost the ball in a very dangerous position allowing Coulibaly to make it four and effectively putting the game out of Red Stars' reach. Just before half time Kemas limped out of the action, allowing Reevis Nsimba to take his usual central midfield position. Effectively this tidied up affairs for Red Star, cutting off Poissys' main supply route, and from then onwards Red Star dominated.
After the break, with Nsimba commanding in midfield, Ouattara and Marquet out wide and Lefort and Benmesmoudi in central attack, Red Star had a more familiar look. Consequently they fully deserved to be back in the competition when substitute BUVAL crowned a fine solo run with a devastating finish (2-4). From thereon the star of the game was Poissys' goalkeeper captain Vincent Magniez, who made a series of fantastic saves to maintain his sides' advantage.
So Red Star close the season by disappointing their fans - an experimental line-up that proved to be very costly against two lively in-form strikers. Woeful the first forty minutes, when Kaba Diomande took so long to get into the game, Fourneuf capable of the best and the worst with some fantastic tackling before the aberration that gave away an important goal. Ouattara was not at his best in the unaccustomed central midfield role, and up front Azzedine Benmesmoudi has yet to capture his goalscoring form of the previous season. On the positive side, Lacomat was excellent and even finished the game as an old-fashioned winger. Nsimba turned things around with his introduction and Buval showed promise as well as a well-taken goal.
The season is over, the last two performances hopefully can be put down to end-of-season fatigue. Changes will have to be made for next season if Red Star are to make a serious challenge for CFA glory.
© AllezRedStar.com 2007