Thilina puts Bens into semis
Bernard PERERA
A last minute goal by Thilina Rngika put St. Benedict’s College into
the semi final of the Milo Schools Division I soccer championship
beating Dharmaraja College Kandy 2 goals to one yesterday at St.
Benedict’s ground Kotahena.
The match was evenly contested throughout the 80 minutes of play. It
was Dharmaraja who held the upper hand in the first forty minutes having
a one nil lead.
Just four minutes away from the half way mark CSS Abeygoonesekera
found the net to put his side in front. During this session Bens too had
many opportunities of scoring but the strikers failed to deliver.
After the turn around Bens fought well penetrating the defense line
on many occasions but the Rajans custodian did a good job in blocking
those opportunities.
Bens continued the struggle for 25 minutes failed to find the
equaliser. At this stage G.N. Uduwage of Dharmaraja was sent off the
field for rough play.
Rajans playing with ten men never allowed the home team to take
control of the game.
Just 2 minutes away from the final whistle Pasindu Tharaka fired the
equaliser in a solo effort. This boosted the morale of the Bens and they
moved fast and baffled the custodian in quick succession and made good
use of the situation to find the winning goal and take the semi-final
berth.
Al Husseini in
In an another game played in the morning Hameed Al Husseini made
their way to the semis beating Wayamba Royal in a tie breake 3 goals to
2 after the scores were at all.
A.L.M. Kiyas scored for Hameed Al Husseini while A.W. Sampath scored
for Wayamba Royal in the 24th and 48th minutes respectively.
Meanwhile the second game played at the same venue St. Thomas College
Matara outplayed Isipatana College Colombo 3 goals to nil after leading
2-0 at the half time. D.H. Eranga (38), D.B. Weerappuli (47) and J.W.
Ranasinghe (51) scored for the winners.
The final quarter-final played at CR&FC ground Zahira College
defeated St. Anne’s College Kurunegala four goals to nil after leading
3-0 at half time.
Samam Zaki (2) M. Aslam and M. Siraj were the goal getters for Zahira. |
