Expo Lanka & Ceylinco Insurance are leading Divisions A and B respectively at the end of the 3rd game week in the 2017 Mercantile Football League Tournament.

The tournament was revived after many a year under the leadership of Saif Yusoof, who was elected as the President of the Mercantile Football Association during the latter part of 2016. The MFA which was inaugurated in 1918 will be celebrating its 100th anniversary next year.

‘A’ Division matches are played with 45 minutes per half while all the other divisions have 30 minutes per half. The Champion of each group will be promoted.

A Division

LB Finance v Sri Lankan Airlines

Naveen Jude and Shafraz Kaiz starred for LB Finance as they held off a late Sri Lankan Airlines charge to win 4-2.

In an even battle it took LB Finance until the 42nd minute to score the first goal through Kaiz.

Half time – LB Finance 1 – 0 Sri Lankan Airlines

It became a goal fest in the latter stages of the 2nd half. Jude doubled the lead for LB Finance in the 70th minute.

The final 10 minutes produced four goals in a ding-dong battle. With the 80th minute goal from Kaiz it looked like smooth sailing for them but two goals from D.V.M.Weerasinghe & Mohamed Riyaz within the space of five minutes for Sri Lankan Airlines made it 3-2 to send the cat among the pigeons.

However Jude settled the nerves with the 4th with a minute left to secure the win for LB Finance.  

Full time – LB Finance 4 – 2 Sri Lankan Airlines

Goal Scorers

LB Finance – Shafraz Kaiz 42’ & 80’, Naveen Jude 70’ & 89’

Sri Lankan Airlines – D.V.M.Weerasinghe 82’, Mohamed Riyaz 86’


Sri Lankan Airlines v Expo Lanka

A first half burst, in which they scored five goals, paved the way for Expo Lanka to trounce Sri Lankan Airlines 6-2 to top the A Division points table with just the final game against LB Finance left.

Expo Lanka, who is the sponsor of the champion side Colombo FC, showed their dominance from the opening whistle. Zarwan Johar opened the scoring in the 15th minute and Niran Kanishka doubled the lead five minutes later.

Dilan Kaushalya scored the 3rd while Kanishka scored his 2nd in the 38th minute. Kaushalya rounded off the first half with his 2nd in the 41st minute.

Half time – Sri Lankan Airlines 0 – 5 Expo Lanka

After the break it was Sri Lankan Airlines who started scoring through Harsha Thisera in the 52nd minute. Kanishka restored the five goal advantage completing his hat-trick in the 58th minute.

Expo Lanka shut down their doors after the 6th goal as the only goal thereafter came from Sri Lankan Airlines with 18 minutes to go.

Full time – Sri Lankan Airlines 2 – 6 Expo Lanka

Goal Scorers

Sri Lankan Airlines – Harsha Thisera 52’, R.M.Kumara 72’

Expo Lanka – Zarwan Johar 15’, Niran Kanishka 20’, 38’ & 58’, Dilan Kaushalya 24’ & 41’

Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts
Expo Lanka 1 1 0 0 6 2 4 3
LB Finance 1 1 0 0 4 2 2 3
Sri Lankan Airlines 2 0 0 2 4 10 -6 0

B Division

Commercial Bank v Ceylinco Insurance

A comfortable 3-0 win for Ceylinco Insurance who led 2-0 at half time.

Goal Scorers

Ceylinco Insurance – B.H.Nishantha 10’, Madushanka Sampath 15’ & 58’


Lake House v HNB

HNB defeated Lake House 4-0 to go unbeaten at the end of week 3. They led 2-0 at half time. It was the former Sri Lanka and Ratnam star and current Saunders SC forward Chryshantha Abeysekara who stole the show with a wonderful hat-trick.

Goal Scorers

HNB – Chryshantha Abeysekara 19’, 48’ & 56’, Zaman Azmi 24’


Ceylinco Insurance v Lake House

In a thrilling encounter Ceylinco defeated Lake House 4-3 to top the division. It was the winners who led 3-1 at half time.

Goal Scorers

Ceylinco Insurance – Madushanka Sampath 8’ & 40’, Anton Raymond 10’, Mohamed Ramis 12’

Lake House – Dumidu Hettiarachchi 20’ & 50’, M.B.Surendran 45’


HNB v Commercial Bank

Two first half goals were enough as HNB defeated Commercial Bank 2-0 to take 2nd place in the division at the end of week 3.

Goal Scorers

HNB – Chryshantha Abeysekara 25’, L.Senevirathna 27’

Other Results

HNB 0 – 0 JKH

JKH 0 – 0 Commercial Bank

Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts
HNB 3 2 1 0 6 0 6 7
Ceylinco Insurance 2 2 0 0 7 3 4 6
JKH 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 2
Commercial Bank 3 0 1 2 0 5 -5 1
Lake House 2 0 0 2 3 8 -5 0