St.Henry's vs Hameed Al Husseinie – Schools Football 2016 - Kelaniya Football Complex - 29/7/2016 - Hameedians' custodian Dinesh pounces on a ball
St.Henry’s College Illavali , battled it out for a thrilling 3-1 win against Hameed Al Husseinie College at the Kelaniya Football Complex in a group stage encounter in the Kotmale Chox U19 Schools Football Championships.
Both teams were coming into the game on the back of a string of wins, having qualified for the knockout stages with this win deciding the group top.
The game started off at high intensity with both teams eager to make their mark early on in the game.
The first clear cut opportunity of the game came around the 10 minute mark when Hameedia’s 12 mazed his way into the right side of the box, only to be robbed of possession when trying to make a shot.
Seconds later Hameedia almost found the opening goal when Keetige Sandaru & Mohammed Rishan combined well, but once again, the Hameedians couldn’t test the keeper.
In the meantime, it was Karunakaran Kajendran who shouldered the St. Henry’s attacking burden. Kajendran, who was head and shoulders above the rest in terms of effectiveness throughout the game put the Henricans ahead in the 20th minute after a brilliant counter attack led to him getting the ball on the left side of the box and calmly slotting home.
Photos : Hameed Al Husseinie v St.Henry’s College – Schools Football 2016
The Hameedians continued to enjoy the lion share of the possession with #11 looking particularly threatening.
Some neat combinations by Rishan and Sandaru did open up a few opportunities, but were unable to find the killer pass required to really carve open the Henricans.
Following yet another counter, Kajendran managed to double the Henricans’ lead in the 35th minute from the right side of the box this time. Following some fancy footwork, Kajendran pushed the ball beyond his marker and drilled a shot home, leaving goalie Mahendran Dinesh grasping thin air.
Hammed Al Husseine College did manage to pull back a much deserved goal in dying seconds of the half after Sandaru twisted and turned in the box after controlling a free-kick before firing home.
Half time – Hameed Al Husseine College 1 – 2 St.Henry’s College
The second half kicked off amid gloomy weather with the quality of the game deteriorating heavily.
In the push for goals, the game became increasingly cagey as both sides put the onus on defensive stability. Credit has to be given to both sets of coaches for encouraging the players to continue to play attacking football rather than.
The boys from Jaffna were the chief beneficiaries in this regard as they bossed proceedings right from kick off. Both sides continued the push to try and add to their tally but the ball was stuck in midfield most of the time.
St. Henry’s continued their fine form from the first half and had an early shout with when right back Nanthapalan Luckey pushed into the box and unleashed a shot that was tipped over by the keeper.
Seconds later the centre back, Benadict Kanistan joined in on the fun as his marauding run from the back lead to his goal-bound shot being blocked.
In the 80th minute, Hameedia did nearly pull one back after Rishan put in a scrumptious cross which was not met by the striker as he mistimed the header. The return ball was equally good, but that too ended up being blocked as it flew towards goal.
The boys from Jaffna finally rapped the game up in the 88th minute when Sivakumaran Rubanraj picked up the ball on the left side of the box and sneaked it past the goalkeeper after some neat work down the wing, scoring a well-deserved goal.
Full time – Hameed Al Husseine College 1 – 3 St.Henry’s College
ThePapare.com Player of the Match: Karunakaran Kajendran (St.Henry’s College)
St.Henry’s Coach N.D.Wijayakumar said on the result;
“We have won all five games upto now and have done well. The national players in our squad were especially important in dragging the team across the finish line.”
“Can’t complain about the effort because the boys fought till the very end. Even when we were a goal down, we continued attacking. We were just unlucky that we couldn’t convert the possession and chances we had today” said Hameed Al Husseinie Coach Mohammed Imran Hussein.
