Soldiers in final, meet Ratnam SC on Tuesday

Bernard PERERA

Sri Lanka Army soccerites got nearer to touching the Dialog Premier League soccer championship when they entered the final beating another service team the Sri Lanka Air Force 2 goals to nil at CR & FC grounds yesterday. The soldiers will now confront the defending champions Ratnams Sports Club on Tuesday at the same venue.

Top class soccer was displayed by both teams right the 90 minutes of play. Soldiers who came to the semi-final with an unbeaten record proved that they play the best soccer. Airmen though were underdogs in this game, put on a gallant performance to hold the soldiers to a goalless first half.

The best striker of Army, Mohamed Issadeen was at his best and was seen always penetrating the defence of Airmen, but failed to find the correct target to score. He had all the support coming from the mid fielders at every given opportunity.

M. R. Mohamed Murshi combined well with S.D. Kanna and their skipper K. K. Priyankara. Three of them held a good fort to thwart the Airmen’s movements towards their territory. This prevented Airmen from scoring but S. Sanjeev tried everything he had to go past the Army defence of many occasions.

Half time was blown by the referee with a blank score card.

The second session began with Soldiers using good tactics. They moved the ball very efficiently through good passes. It was nice to watch the type of soccer displayed during this session.

Airmen too made every effort to stall the Soldiers from scoring. This they did well.

But with only 19 minutes into this session saw a blunder being made by an Airmen inside the danger area and the referee had no other option but to order a penalty.

Though every one expected main striker Issadeen to take the kick but the captain’s decision was to see M. Murshid have it for his side. Murshid found the right target and put his side in front 1-0.

The game continued with Airmen making a strong bid to find the equaliser. They failed in all their attempts. On the side Soldiers sensing the movements of their opponents, strengthened the defence line while going on the attack. Both these tactics brought in good results for them within a short period of six minutes.

Once again Issadeen was the man who received a good ball from far end of left wing and controlled it well and sent it right to the goal mouth for Asanka de Silva to do the finishing touches. Army 2 - Air force 0.

Airmen were badly placed at this moment but never gave up the game and fought well until the final whistle.

The referee Anura de Silva had no difficulty in handling the game though he pulled the yellow card on a few occasions. This was mainly due to the fact the soccerites were well disciplined to play to whistle. This game was a good example for other teams to follow in the future.

The soccer displayed was at its best and also the discipline maintained at this game was at a very high standard. Both teams deserve top honour for their behaviour on and off the field.

OLD BENS IN FINAL

Meanwhile the first semi-final of Dialog Premier League soccer championships Segment B was concluded at Kelaniya Football ground between Old Bens and Kandy York SC saw the Kotahena team make their way to the final.

Old Bens who had a one-nil lead at lemons, went on to add four more goals to make final 5-0.

This they achieved mainly through the hat-trick scored by Romesh Wallace. The other two goals for winners came through the boots of Thejan Fernando and Nishantha Fernando.

Meanwhile the Segment B second semi-final between Golden Star SC and Don Bosco will be played today at the Kelaniya Football ground. Kick off is scheduled for 3.30 p.m.