Royal v Hameed Al Husseinie - Schools Football 2016 - Royal Complex - 14/07/2016 - Hameed Al Husseinie players celebrating the first goal by Keetige Sandaruwan
Mohamed Fazil’s brilliant free-kick ensured Hameed Al Husseinie walked away with the three points in a close 2-1 win against Royal College at the Royal College Sports Complex in the Kotmale Chox U19 Schools Football Championship.
The match started with no proper game plan coming out from both teams, and the first half carried on in a slow and unstructured manner. Hameed Al Husseinie was working the ball from the two extremes pulling in hopeless crosses into the box finding no one for the execution.
The Royalists were not backing down just yet as they were able to earn a few free kicks and a couple of corners, but that proved hollow with a poor front line to receive.
The first 45 minutes passed on with less action than one would have expected and it needed a moment of brilliance from Keetige Sandaruwan, with another cross in by the left extreme and Sandaruwan was finally rewarded.
Photo Album – Royal College v Hameed Al Husseinie College – Schools Football 2016
This proved to be the only highlight of the first half as it came to an end with the visitors leading 1-0.
The second half however, was much more thrilling with a Royal comeback in the 68th minute by Ashraff Iqbal, when he performed a brilliant solo performance all the way from the 45 yard line and topped it off with a loop over goalkeeper Mahendran Dinesh’s tall reach.
With the scores tied at 1-1, the pressure was building in both benches as coaches played out aggressive strategy to squeeze in a victory goal for their team.
Unfortunately for the Royalists it was Mohamed Fazil of the opposition who swerved a beautiful ball finding the top right corner of the net off a free kick just outside the box.
This put his team in the lead once again but just marginally as the Royal attack grew stronger with Iqbal trying his luck to beat Dinesh but the Saunders goalkeeper’s experience paid off well here as he predicted each of Iqbal’s shots on goal and did excellent to prevent him from scoring.
The full 90 minutes ran out its course well, as the referee blew the match to an end with a deserved 2-1 win for Hameed Al Husseinie College.
ThePapare.com Player of the Match: Mahendran Dinesh (Hameed Al Husseinie)
