Negombo Youth gets scrappy win; Pelicans & Nandimithra stun Renown & Police

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Three first half goals proved enough as Negombo Youth gets first win of the tournament beating Thihariya Youth 3-1.

Thihariya Youth SC took on Negombo Youth Sports Club in the Dialog Champions League 2015 group B match at Kelaniya Football Complex. 

The home team Thihariya Youth Sports Club is forced to play all their home matches away from home (Sri Bodhi Grounds, Gampaha) after assaulting the match officials last year during a Dialog Champions League match against Saunders SC.

Everybody expected this match to be a one side game where Negombo Youth will dominate with majority of the ball position and goals. However it did not live up to expectation during the opening stage where Thihariya Youth Sports Club missed few good chances in taking the lead.

However the experience of Kasun Jayasuriya and Tharusha managed to set the tone for Negombo Youth to dominate play with ball position and making creative movements to find a way to break the dead lock.

Negombo Youth opened the scoring with a goal from K.S.D.H Peiris in the 24th minute and it was followed by a penalty in the 26th minute which was scored by Kasun Jayasuriya and K.R.P.Fernando scored the 3rd goal at the 44th minute to give Negombo Youth a 3 goal lead heading into half time.

Thihariya Youth started the 2nd half very positively in search of a goal with some quick passing football and scored a goal at the 58th minute through Mohamed Ishan. The momentum was with Thihariya Youth Sports Club and they soon netted another in the 64th minute but it was to be judged off side. 

Negombo Youth Sports Club turned the momentum in favor of them and created many chances to increase their lead but they did not manage to score any more goals but lots of miss opportunities. The player to watch was Pele, the African player showed brilliant skill in beating players and breaking defense but he too couldn’t add to the scoring but to miss a brilliant chance even after beating the Thihariya Youth Sports Club Goalkeeper to find the side netting.

 

ThePapare.com Man of the Match: Pele (Negombo Youth)


Pelicans shock Renown with late goal

Pelicans SC, Kurunegala with a young outfit played well to beat much fancied Renown SC from Colombo by 1 goal to 0. At half time it was goalless and K.P.K. Pradeep scored in the 86th minute to give the home side a well-deserved victory.

 

Police goes from hero to zero

Additional time goal by S.L. Gayashan before the 1st half led Nandimithra 1-0 at the half time. The score remained the same till the end despite heavy attacking by Police who could not find the net at all. So the Police who won against reigning DCL Champions Solid last week lost unexpectedly to Nandimittra SC.

 

Other Results

Air Force 2 – Highlanders 1

Don Bosco 1 – Kalutara Park 0 

Super Sun 3 – New Youngs 0 

Crystal Palace 2 – Up Country Lions 1