Holy Cross had a walk in park against Kingswood College in the 4th Quarter Final of the Kotmale Chox U19 Schools Football Championship which they won 4-0 at the racecourse grounds.
After witnessing a massive loss to their home town rivals Dharmaraja, it was time for yet another school from the hill country to fight it out for a place in the semi final. Holy Cross College Kalutara with a few experienced players looked to be the stronger outfit of the two.
Click here for all the Kotmale Chox Quarter Final Match Details
Group D winners Holy Cross meeting last year’s Division II winners Kingswood College with Holy Cross winning 5-1 against Wesley College and 2-0 against Royal College while they got a walkover from Zahira College which propelled them to top of Group D.
Kingswood College defeated Ananda College 3-0, St.Joseph’s College 2-1 and Maris Stella 3-1 while losing out to Hameed Al Husseinie 2-1 which unfortunately landed them the 2nd place in the group thought they won against first placed Maris Stella.
Both teams took time to settle down to the hot and humid conditions. It was a very quiet first quarter, there was not much until the 28th minute when the boys from Kalutara broke the deadlock.
Udara Perera curved the ball past the goalkeeper to give the lead for his team. Kingswood goalkeeper got his judgment wrong and advanced forward giving enough space for Udara to send the ball through.
Four minutes later Holy Cross struck for the second time through a free kick. Malsha Fernando was fouled just at the edge of the penalty box and Kavinda Nilesh Kumara took the free kick and curved the ball past the wall deceiving the goalkeeper with the utmost of ease.
Kingswood could not manage to create any opportunity in the first half as Holy Cross enjoyed majority of ball Possession.
Holy Cross took the game away from the boys from Kandy in the second half as they extended their lead to 3-0 in the 74th minute through the boot of Kavinda Kumara as his second goal of the match, coming from a belter from outside the box.
Kingswood College could not make any comeback into the match and two minutes after the third goal, Holy Cross found their fourth goal of the match.
Udara Perera sent the ball through the defense line, Asela Madushan running in and going past the keeper to send the ball in and seal the victory for Holy Cross.
Kingswood missing the trick with their star player and Sri Lanka U19 cap Anjana Wickramsinghe, making him play as center back while he’s known for his striking skills in national level. Holy Cross making the most out of this play and defeating Kingswood College by 4-0.
ThePapare.com man of the Match: Kavinda Nilesh Kumara
“Today few of our players were injured and the day’s luck went with Holy Cross. Plus we didn’t play as a team. Also Kingswood is relatively new to the big stage of schools football and I think the pressure got to the players,” a dejected Kingswood Coach Kosala Nawarathna added.
“We practiced and planned for this tournament for some time and we did it to a schedule. Kingswood is a good team who played hard and this would be a good performance for us going into the semifinal against St.Henry’s College,” Roshan Malinda, Coach of Holy Cross College mentioned.
