Sri Lanka President’s XI displayed a commanding performance in the friendly against the touring Maldives women’s football team to win 3-0 at the Kelaniya Football Complex.
At the beginning it was the Maldives women who threatened for the first few minutes with captain Fadhuwa Zahir at the center of it. Maldives almost had the lead when Zahir delivered a brilliant free-kick straight at the goal but it needed an excellent save from Yohani Weerasinghe.
However there-on in it was the Sri Lankan ladies who rested back the control with a swift passing game. L.E.K.Liyanage sent Sumali Pathirana through inside the box but her effort was blocked away by the defense. Sri Lanka created chances at will but were denied by good defense and poor finishing. In one occasion Liyanage’s shot bounced back off the upright to deny Sri Lanka of their opening goal.
Persistence finally paid off when the Maldives goalkeeper spilled a routine ball and Sumali Pathirana was on hand to make it 1-0 in the 29th minute. Twelve minutes later Praveen Maduki made it 2-0 from a swift counter attack when her strike across the goal hit the inside of the bar and into the goal.
In the second half, the Maldives women tightened their defense and though the Sri Lanka women dominated possession and territory it was hard to score. Both sides made several changes which helped the Maldives while it restricted Sri Lanka’s attacking flow. However the hosts finally managed to score the third in the dying minutes when substitute Nalika Karunarathne struck from close range.
