After an enthralling first leg last week the 22nd Dr. R.L. Hayman Trophy took centre stage once again in the Waterpolo arena.
Last week it was the Thomians who came out on top with a splendid 8-5 victory that set up the ‘blue and blacks’ with an all important three goal cushion coming into the second leg.
The boys from Reid Avenue who had a huge task ahead of them with a tedious deficit to overturn stepped up to the challenge with an early goal through K. Assalarachchi. Confidences seem to have enhanced as the Royalists slowly seized control of the game in terms of possession as the Thomians failed to respond effectively.
Royal riding on the early confidence inject on the first goal kept the intensity at its highest as Vice Captain Akila Weerasinghe who was dearly missed in terms of performance at the first leg blasted through a shot that found the back of the net after an initial foul by the Thomians in defense.
Unlike in the first leg, the Royalists seemed to be in more control especially in attack and looked more confident in their approach. The early goal in the first quarter seemed to have reduced the immense pressure that loomed the Royalists before the game in their bid to retaining the Dr. R. L. Hayman Trophy.
Royal continued to dominate the ‘swimballs’ that always gave them possession early in the quarter, also giving an opportunity to attack from the onset. However, both teams had a string of opportunities early in the 3rd quarter but failed to find the finishing touches.
Relentless pressure by the Royalists was rewarded when K. Assalarachchi scored his second of the game when he put the ball past the outstretched hands of the Thomian goal keeper. This goal gave the Royalists a glimmer of hope as the overall tally was equaled with both teams scoring 8 a piece till then.
The Thomians put their first points of the leg on board when Devshan de Mel coolly slotted in a powerful penalty to make the scores 3-1 leaving the Royalists with more work to do in pursuit of the trophy as the aggregate read 9-8 in favour of the Thomians at the end of the 3rd quarter.
Royal who claimed the swimball in the 4th quarter failed to capitalize in possession as the pressure slowly mounted on the players. The Thomians began to kill time in order to slow the game down as they looked towards enforcing a killer blow. Royal made a few crucial blunders that could have been very costly as the quarter progressed into being an extremely tight affair.
With time running out for the Royalists the Thomians capitalized with two goals in quick session through Dineth Francis and Deelaka Weeraratne and as the scores was leveled at 3-3. Royal struck again through Akila Weerasinghe in what was turning out to be an eventful half as predicted but the comeback was left far too late as the time ran out with the leg concluding with the Royalists winning 4-3.
However, even though Royal won this game with a slim one goal lead it was the Thomians who eventually won the battle with a 11-9 aggregate overall and thus would take the Dr. R.L. Hayman Trophy to Mt. Lavinia as the rightful heirs this year.
Royal won the Mahinda Liyanage Challenge Trophy (Under 15) – Aggregate: 11-7
Most Valuable Player (U19 Category) – K. Wijewardena (STC)
