Philipe Mataba scored twice while Steve Belobo scored the other as YAFOOT registered a 3-1 victory against Astre on Sunday in match day 19 of the MTN Elite One championship.
Ulrich Ndong’s goal for the host ended up as a consolatory as the visitors silenced the home crowd at the Bepanda Omnisport stadium, subjecting the Brazilians to a rare home defeat.
Off the back of a 1-2 defeat to Fovu football club of Baham in match day 18, one will expect the home crowd support will help procure Astre third win in five games, but it wasn’t to be.
Astre were the better side from the start of the game not until the 21st minute. A swift Sebastian Noah will pick up after Astre shot on the crossbar, assisting Philippe Mataba to score YAFOOT first of three.
The Yaounde based outfit opener boosted their confidence, pushed them to search for a second before the end of the first half.
Goalkeeper Arnold Penka Chiweng in collaboration with the Astre defence stepped up to the occasion,to ensure Philippe Mataba didn’t get the second for the visitors.
Into the last 45 minutes, YAFOOT pace slowed down. However, the Brazilian worked their way upfront and secured the equalizer through Jean Ulrich Ndong after 56minutes.
Eight minutes later, duo Sebastian Noah and Philippe Mataba worked their magic again to restore YAFOOT’s lead.
With his team behind, coach Tonye Nicolas introduced Thierry Henry Ibeng in place of Doyen Belo Zabo while Gaston Temfack will rest Sebastian Noah for Ismaila Seidou.
While Astres were after an equalizer, Belobo took the opportunity to add a third at the 72nd minutes. Being two goals down with 18 minutes of regular time left, Astre tried, but could not comeback.
Post match, Coach Tonye blamed his team’s defeat on the psychological preparedness for the game.
“In the beginning we were playing well. Unfortunately we did not succeed to score and the opponent realized what we were failing to do. We lost a point psychologically, and the opponent succeeded to move forward,” Tonye said.
With 23 points Astres is placed seven in group B. Moving forward , the Brazilians look to tighten loose ends.
“Moving forward we will correct mistakes of the game we played today (Sunday )and to be fit psychologically and mentally. I hope it will not impact grossly our preparation,” he added.
Despite YAFOOT win, the team still stays in the relegation zone with just three games left. Coach Temfack is taking it one game at a time.
“After our draw with Union, we realized our short comings, the first was finishing ,we worked on that and today we’ve seen the results,we can only be happy for the work done through out the week. We will play game after game, but we have one objective maintain the team, we will galvanise the players especially at the level of the administrative staff, administration has taken all possible disposition and we are producing results.”
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