Deshan Gonawela produced a clinical first half hat-trick as S.Thomas’ College defeated Trinity College 4-1 in their 5th Annual Football Encounter.
The hosts got off to a rollicking start at the picturesque Big Club Grounds, at the School by the Sea as Gonawela scored twice within the first ten minutes.
Nuwan Pathirana halved the lead for Trinity, through a deflected free-kick but Gonawela restored the two goal advantage completing his hat-trick with a thumping shot into the top corner. Yohan Mendis who had another stellar first half including setting up Gonawela’s second rewarded himself with the fourth Thomian goal before halftime.
Though Trinity College had the majority of possession and territory in the second half they couldn’t find a way past the Thomian defense.
“The boys have improved immensely from the time I took over. You could see that from the way they played today. Really happy for them.” a delighted former Sri Lanka captain and S.Thomas’ coach R.M.U. Mahindapala told ThePapare.com.
“Yes we completely got our tactics wrong in the first half by trying to press up high in a comparatively small surface. And yes indeed they exploited us brilliantly specially at the right wing when we pressed up high with the fullbacks.” a dejected Trinity captain Saadik Niyas told after the match.
S.Thomas’ kicked off proceedings with high intensity and took the Trinity side off guard. They were rewarded, albeit from an error from goalkeeper when Gonawela took a powerful shot from the edge of the box and Rishane Madena who was out of position; let it in at his near post. That was a cardinal error for a goalkeeper and gave the already pumped up Thomians a dream start.
It became double trouble for the visitors when Gonawela doubled the lead from a precise Yohan Mendis cross. Akhil Fernando won the ball in midfield and fed it to Mendis on the right wing who went to the byline and sent in an inviting cross to onrushing Gonawela at the far post whose powerful header had no chance of being stopped.
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The shell-shocked visitors then managed to absorb the pressure and had a decent spell with ball. They pulled a goal back when Nuwan Pathirana’s deflected free-kick sent the Thomian goalkeeper Dinura Gunawardena the wrong way and rolled into the goal.
The Thomians exploited the fact that Trinity were playing a sweeper and broke the defense feeding the wings and getting behind them. Thomians created havoc on both wings especially on the right through Dion Dias and Yohan Mendis who gave Trinity left back Tharindu Pitawala a nightmare of an evening.
Mendis found Dias with an exquisite through pass who ran into the box and unselfishly squared it off to Gonawela who finished at the far post with a thumping drive.
The hosts weren’t finished as Captain Avantha Elapatha won the ball in midfield and fed Mendis who went past his marker and rolled the ball past the on rushing keeper to make it 4-1 heading into halftime.
It was game of two halves as the second half was marred with players from both sides going down with cramps under the humid weather, with one of the victims being the hat-trick scorer Gonawela. Both sides lacked the fitness to last the full 80 minutes thus the quality of football in the second half was poor.
Trinity dominated possession and territory in the second half with the only chance coming from a Nuwan Pathirana free-kick which almost went over Dinura Gunawardena only for him to time his jump perfectly and smother the ball.
“Well we all feel heartbroken. Our performance in the first few minutes was very poor. We could blame the officials and try making an excuse but at the end of the day we deserved to lose the way we played in the first half, the mistakes we made, we know that we are much better than this.
“I’d like to congratulate the Thomians who finally got their hands on the trophy after a long wait. There’s always a next time, and we will be waiting early till that day arrives.” Niyas stated after the match.
“Obviously happy with the hat-trick” a beaming Gonawela told ThePapare.com after the match.
“But the job is half done. We still have the Royal-Thomian on the 1st of November. This is a good start. We played well really well in the first half and were composed in the second half. Still work needs to be done mainly on our fitness.” not losing focus of their main objective, Gonawela further added.
“The coach has helped us improve immensely. He has his own style and we have adapted well, we are much more controlled with the ball than before.” Gonawela praised their coach.
