Manjula Fernando saved three penalties against to back to back semifinal appearances in the FA Cup.
The former national goalkeeper who replaced Mohamed Risvi late in the second half saved all three Matara City penalties after it ended 0-0 in normal time. Matara City squandered a couple of golden opportunities to bury the game in the 90 minutes and the Blue Star experience shone in the penalty shootout under the floodlight lit Sugathadasa Stadium.
Blue Star were favourites, coming into form with a 4-0 demolishing of Police in the pre-quarters after only a last minute goal by Rifkhan saved them from Pelicans SC in the last 32 round while Matara City booked a place in the quarters defeating a resilient Singing Fish SC from Jaffna 2-1.
Blue Star got into the match early on with, Yohanne Richards effort saved by D.Yapa and Mohamed Farzeen’s strike from outside the box bounced off the upright and was cleared. Matara City settled their nerves quickly and stepped up the offense. They earned a free-kick 25 yards out and very nearly scored when Addevu Isaal’s pile driver struck the underside of the bar and out of danger much to the disappointment of the Matara fans. Both sides exchanged free-kicks but nothing added a spark to the match as they went into halftime goalless.
In the second half A.D.Prabath had two chances from similar positions but his finishing let his team down. Prabath danced down the left flank going into the box and his effort from an angle went wide on both occasions. With not much happening and Matara City reserved on defending Blue Star brought in Manjula Fernando with an eye on the penalty shootout.
After it ended goalless Blue Star’s T.J.Seimon put the first penalty in while M.G. Dinesh’s penalty for Matara City hit the crossbar. D.O.Abraham put the second one in for the Kalutara club and Manjula saved Addevu Isaal effort. Richard gave a dominant 3-0 lead and Matara City needed to get their third penalty in but again Manjula saved Johonny Jones shot, sending the Kalutara fans wild.
“My plan was to score in normal. They covered our striker very well so we couldn’t score. They got chances as well in the second half but our goalkeeper Manjula did really well in the shootoout.” Blue Star coach Mohamed Hamsa told ThePapare.com after the match.
ThePapare.com Man of the Match: Manjula Fernando
