St. Peter’s College stormed past Ananda College in the first half scoring five goals to register an easy 5-0 victory in the U19 Division I fixture held at M.H.Mohamed Grounds Colombo.
Ananda College coming into the match after two heavy defeats against Hameed Al Husseinie College and Lumbini College were the clear underdogs of the match against a well drilled St. Peter’s outfit who lost a nail biter against Hameed Al Husseinie College after drawing the first match at home to Royal College. They had to the burden to get back to winning ways going deep into the competition.
Hameedians maul hapless Ananda
Hameed Al Husseinie College took another step towards booking their semi-final spot in the U19 Division I Football Championship.
Ananda College started off the proceedings trying to attack positively but it was the St. Peter’s midfield who settled quickly into the game gaining possession.
It didn’t take long for the boys from Bambalapitiya to get into the lead. In the 08th minute skipper Johan Wickramasinghe tried his luck from outside the box and he was able to get the ball past the diving goalkeeper.
The Peterites doubled their lead three minutes later through Dhananjaya Supumitha as his long ranger settled into the back of the net as the Ananda custodian Weerakkodi mistimed his dive.
It was all St.Peter’s after the quick fire double as they bossed the match creating attacking opportunities from the flanks.
Ananda skipper Bandara led the defence despite the early goals but the last few minutes of the first half turned out to be a disaster for him and his team.
Jude Warren scored reacting the quickest to get to the ball after a heavy collision between the Ananda goalkeeper and defender and he made no mistakes by putting ball into the unguarded net in the 34th minute.
Johan Wickramasinghe scored his second to put the match into rest in the 38th minute.
With two minutes remaining, it looked like both teams will settle for the score line going into the break but Jude Warren had other ideas. He pounced on another defensive mistake to score the 5th goal of the match, and his second.
Referee marked the end of first half of 40 minutes much to the relief of the Ananadians
Half Time: Ananda College 0-5 St. Peter’s College
The second half looked like another goal fest was in store, but the Peterites looked off the hook coming in. Anandians sensing the easy go approach, tried to get into the match to get a consolation goal or two. They not only stopped the Peterites but also started to create decent chances.
Anandian skipper Bandara broke Ladushan free with some brilliant through balls but he wasted all the opportunities. S.S.Rathnayake, the left winger came close again pouncing on St.Peter’s goalkeeper’s urge to come forward a couple of times, but on both occasions he could only trouble the crossbar.
Hameed Al Husseinie nick late goal to trump St. Peter’s
Hameed Al Husseinie College started off their U19 Division I campaign with a hard-fought 1-0 win over St. Peter’s College.
On the other hand, St. Peter’s were more relaxed than they should have been as they allowed the Anandian attackers to get behind them on number of occasions. If it wasn’t for Ladushan’s silly mistakes and a 5 goal cushion, things could have gone wrong for them.
A comedy of errors in the 70th minute saw Ladushan missing three opportunities in two minutes, in which two of them were inexcusable misses. St. Peter’s defence was able to weather the storm after that thanks to their holding midfielder Niran Fernando who directed the play in a calm and composed manner.
Full Time: Ananda College 0-5 St.Peter’s College
ThePapare.com Player of the Match: Johan Wickramasinghe (St. Peter’s College)
Going into the dressing rooms at the end of the day, St. Peter’s who looked menacing in the first half would have to look upon what went wrong in the second half as most of the players never looked involved in the game. They can’t display this kind of performance against a tougher opposition.
On the other hand, Ananda College suffering yet another big margin loss can take heart from their second half performance. They have a lot to improve upon, especially to finish things off whenever they get the chance.
Unfortunately, today the game was dead and buried in the first half itself.
Goal Scorers
St.Peter’s College – Johan Wickramasinghe 08’, 38’, Dhananjaya Supumitha 12’, Jude Warren 34’, 39’Bookings
Yellow Cards
St.Peter’s College – Diluka Peiris 13’
Ananda College – Ladushan 30’, Bandara 35’
