CFA round 11
Saturday 10th November 2007
RED STAR 2 MULHOUSE 0 (0-0)
Attendance : 457 - referee : M. Liegaut assisted by MM. Vataut & Hachid.
Goals : Lefort (55) - NBanza (90 + 4)
Booked : Ouattara (90 + 3)
Substitutions : Moukila by Robert (66), Berthier by Ghili (74), Marquet pat MBanza (81) - Perianayagom by Matter (46), Burgart by Khezami (78), Molbein by Lo (90 + 4)
RED STAR FC 93 : DJIDONOU (1), LACOMAT (2), NSEKE (3), KANGULUNGU, cap. (4), PINTO (5), FARDIN (6), BERTHIER (7), OUATTARA (8), LEFORT (9), MOUKILA (10), MARQUET (11). Subs : ROBERT (12), GHILI (13), NEMIR (14), NBANZA (15), DIAKITE (16). Coach : Bruno NAIDON
MULHOUSE : SCHNEIDER (1), MOIBEN (2), EGLIN (3), DEMUTH (4), MILAZZO, cap. (5), BURGART (6), GARNY (7), KALATHUNG (8), ALCINO (9), NSANGU (10), PERIANAYAGOM (11). Subs : KECHA (12), MATTER (13), LO (14), KHEZAMI (15), BERCOT (16). Coach : Damien OTT
Grégory Lefort
HARD FOUGHT VICTORY
Red Star extended their unbeaten run at Bauer on Saturday to three games with a hard-fought 2-0 win against an entreprising Mulhouse side urgently in need of points following a barren spell. For Red Star Yannick Berthier was back for his first CFA outing since last seasons' injury sustained against Moissy-Cramayel. Berthier occupied the left side of attack, Marquet fulfilling duties on the right hand side. With Lefort in for the suspended Taimmy Negreche, Red Star tried another new partnership up front.
The first half was fairly uneventful, Red Star out-manouevred somewhat in midfield by the experience of Mulhouse. Up front Alcino was a livewire, but today Red Stars' skipper Eugène Kangulungu was in no mood to let anything pass and put in an enormous workrate to stem the tide of attacks from the Alsaciens. The five hundred or so spectators at Bauer could, however, appreciate two or three magnificent tackles put in by the Mulhouse defence, timing impeccable to rob Lefort and his coleagues. The game was being played in a good spirit, one yellow card for Moussa Ouattara for a clumsy challenge in the dying minutes.
Some pity for the hapless Perianayagom, injured as early as the sixth minute and whom played forty minutes with a huge gaping wound in his leg. An injury described by Red Stars' doctor as horrible. The unfortunate player failed to reappear for the second period as an ambulance was called. Hope that he has a speedy recovery and is back in action soon.
After the pause Red Star took the lead, and it took a moment of individual brilliance to crack Mulhouse. Greg LEFORT was on the end of a long ball from Ouattara, controlled the ball beautfully with his chest before beating Schneider with an unstoppable shot from the edge of the penalty area (1-0).
At first glance it appeared that the ball had been controlled with the arm, but Greg reassured us after the game that it was controlled with the chest. In any case the strike was magnificent and the poor goalie was beaten hands down, absolutely nothing to do.
Mulhouse went in search of an equaliser, but Kangulungu, Pinto, Lacomat and NSeke were in fine form and conceded nothing. Ludovic Fardin, just ahead of the defence was on hand to mop up any early danger whilst Yoann Djidonou, apart from one fine flying save in the first half had a relatively untroubled afternoon.
Mulhouse threatened with a late free kick as the clock counted down; Djidonou captured the ball, and from his long clearance and a wayward help-on it appeared that the ball was running out of play; Sébastien Robert chased the ball, prevented it from going for a goal kick and like a wily old pro took the ball to the corner flag to kill a few seconds. However sub Loïc Ghili had made some space for himself, picked the ball up from Robert before setting off on a mazy run into the penalty area. He linked perfectly with another sub MBANZA who slipped the ball under the advancing Schneider and sealed the game for Red Star (2-0).
Four vital points, a good second half performance and a boost to confidences. A special mention for Eugène Kangulungu, Red Stars' likeable captain whom had a mighty game with an enormous workrate that would already be impressive on a younger man. Not forgetting Yannick Berthier, whom, whilst being unable to repeat his feat of scoring twice on his first-team comeback in the Coupe de Paris last weekend, still gave his all and added a new dimension to Red Stars' attack. Chapeau, as one says here...
© AllezRedStar.com 2007