Three red cards were dished out at the Don Bosco Grounds as Kalutara Blue Star edged Negombo Youth 2-1 in a thriller.
The incident occurred in the first half injury time as veteran Sri Lankan player Chathura Gunarathna of Negombo Youth and R.R. Silva of Blue Star clashed in the middle of the pitch after a reckless challenge by the former. It was an ugly incident and the referee had no option but to show red cards for the two players and N.Opeyemi was given a yellow card for his involvement. This was after Blue Star’s S. Sanjeeva cancelled out R.P. Fernando’s goal for the hosts in the 31st minute. After the break Blue Star came back strong and scored the second through O.Daniel in the 53rd minute. In the 67th minute Opeyemi was shown his second yellow for dissent. Negombo Youth were unable to take advantage of the extra man and nine men Blue Star defended their hearts out to come away with the win.
Java Lane suffered another humiliating 4-0 loss in as many weeks at the hands of Colombo FC at Kew Points Road. After a quiet first half which ended in nil-all, A. Frank opened the scoring in the 57th minute and Mohammed Rifnas doubled their lead 8 minutes later. Java Lane tried to comeback after going down 2-0 but a brace in the final ten minutes by T.F. Bodrie sealed an emphatic victory for Colombo FC.
Renown outclassed Police SC 3 goals to nil at the Sugathadasa Stadium. Mohammed Nafeer opened the scoring in the 7th minute after a wonderful solo run. Police SC’s defense looked disorganized but were lucky not to concede a few more goals in the first half. G.K. De Silva added the 2nd and the 3rd for Renown in the 73rd and 82nd minutes.
K.L. Fernando’s goal in injury time earned the ‘bottom of the table’ Kalutara Park a deserved draw against the free scoring Army SC. The last few weeks have been fruitful for Kalutara Park as they racked up wins against much stronger oppositions. Army took the early lead through Mohammed Sameer in the 26th minute. In the second half Kalutara Park’s D.A. Abekke equalized on the hour mark and Sameer completed his brace in the 75th minute.
Don Bosco drew 2-2 with Solid SC at the Prison Ground in Anuradhapura. Both teams failed to score in the first half. The match came alive in the second half as both teams made their attacking intentions clear and Niluk Janith gave Don Bosco the lead in the 60th minute. 4 minutes late L.B. Ali equalized for the home team. A.O. Shola gave a 2-1 lead for Solid but a 81st minute strike from A.P.Silva made sure that Don Bosco left Anuradhapura with a valuable point.
