The 28th annual football encounter was held on the 30th of September at the Big Club grounds in Mount Lavinia, where the hosts S. Thomas’ retained the trophy for another year at the school by the sea.
After the tame draw seen in last year’s edition, both teams were gearing up to extract a result out of this encounter. As Royal College are dominating this year’s Royal Thomian encounters in this calendar year, the Thomians were hungry for a taste of victory.
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The game didn’t get off to the prettiest start, as both teams couldn’t hold on to possession for a long period of time. Royal College showed some promise with carrying the ball into the Thomian half, but the resilient Thomian defence stood tall at every attempt at goal by Royal.
Late into the 1st half against the run of play, S. Thomas’with a brilliant passage of play won a penalty due to some excellent footwork from Yusuf Riyaz. Thomian skipper Musaddiq Mukthar converted the penalty without any hesitation, putting the Thomians in the driver’s seat.
Royal College came to the second, looking for the equaliser, but the lack of quality in the final third of the Thomian half limited their chances of scoring.
The second half went goalless as S. Thomas’ retained the trophy with a fitting win over their archrivals, Royal College. And the Royalists’ hunt for this trophy will be extended since they lost it in 2019.
