Lucky Blue Star weathered an initial Solid SC storm, where undefeated Solid missed two golden goals, to grind out a 2-0 win in a must win match at the Vernon Fernando Stadium, to book a Super 8 place in the Dialog Champions League 2016.
Blue Star came out trumps in a match with their backs against a wall, but not without some heart in the mouth moments, powered through amidst a vociferous home crowd.
The nervy hosts needed every ounce of luck they had in the opening quarter of an hour as Solid SC twice came close to taking the lead.
The first instance came when a horrible back pass by Fahir Ali was intercepted by Thakshila Danoj but he could only hit the side netting after going past the goalkeeper, Manjula Fernando.
Minutes later Danoj had another opportunity gifted after another defensive miscommunication, this time between B.Shivanka and Manjula Fernando, as Danoj managed to get a short away but Nasiru Opayemi did brilliantly to track back and clear the ball off the line.
However, there on in it was Blue Star who took control of the game and Idowu Hameed had the ball in the back of the net in the 27th minute heading home a rebound, after Fazil Ayurdeen saved made a brilliant save, only to be denied by linesman at the far end who had flagged Hameed for offside.
The celebrations ended prematurely amongst the players and fans as the tensions built up rapidly as the game came to a stand still for a couple of minutes to calm down the visibly volatile crowd.
However there was no denying Hameed and the fans the 2nd time as he fired home from the edge of the box after a goal mouth scramble in the 29th minute sending the crowd wild and invading the pitch in celebration.
Hameed should have ideally doubled the lead, but could only rattle the crossbar from close, from an Afinjo Jibola cutback into the box minutes later while Mohamed Irshan tried to lob over goalkeeper from an acute angle but was brilliantly saved by Ayurdeen with minutes left for half time.
Half time – Blue Star 1 – 0 Solid SC
The early part of the 2nd half looked rather sedate compared to the 1st half with neither side taking onus of the game.
Heading into the final 20 minutes it was Thakshila Danoj who created a golden opportunity when he sent a low cross into the box from the left but J.A.Henry could only volley the ball over the crossbar from close range and another goal was disallowed, this time by Sagayam Godwin, for a foul on Manjula Fernando.
Blue Star introduced the veteran EB Channa for the final few minutes and it paid dividends as his curling corner was headed in by Irshan in the 83rd minute to make it 2-0 and Channa failed to put the icing on the cake as he could only head his diving header over the goal from close range in the dying moments but that didn’t hamper the celebrations as Blue Star booked a place in the Super 8’s in thrilling fashion.
Full time – Blue Star 2 – 0 Solid SC
ThePapare.com Player of the Match – Idowu Hameed
Speaking to ThePapare.com was a jubilant Blue Star coach G.B.C.Karunarathna;
“We had that belief and we trained hard for the win. We were nervous at the start and was lucky in the beginning. I must thank the fans because they have been behind us all the way. Have a lot of work to before the Super 8’s.”
Goal Scorers
Blue Star – Idowu Hameed 29’, Mohamed Irshan 84’Bookings
Yellow cards
Blue Star – EB Channa, Mohamed Irshan
Solid SC – Tharindu Liyanage
