A blitzkrieg start saw a dangerous looking Thomian outfit grab a four goal cushion and an 11-7 victory at the end of the first leg of the annual Royal Thomian Water Polo encounter for the Dr. R.L Hayman Trophy.
The boys from Mt Lavinia hit the water running, so to speak, as they rattled the Royalists and their large and vocal support contingent in first quarter. Keshan Munasinghe scored the opening goal of the match for S. Thomas as a sluggish start by the Royal defence coupled with a smart pass by Isura Kahandawala to make use of a two on one situation saw the ball comfortably dispatched to the back of the net. The Thomians then doubled their lead very quickly as last year’s captain Deelaka Weeraratne powered a back handed shot in at goal before swooping in on the rebound to make it 2 to nil.
Royal managed to pull one back on a counter attacking play as Yahiya Jaffer collected a good long pass before finding Senith Samaranayake in open space for their first goal. That joy was short lived however as Deelaka Weerarathne managed to find space to shoot constantly and scored twice more, completing a remarkable first quarter hat trick, and leaving the Reid Avenue team reeling at 4-1 down as the first quarter ended.
The Thomians began the second quarter in same vein as they ended the first, with Ashane Francis following up on some great defensive work to gain possession, before storming down the length of the pool and then beating the goalie to give S. Thomas’ their fifth.
It looked like the Thomians were going to run away with what was turning out to be quite a one sided affair, but Royal College finally found their groove as they slotted three unanswered goals past the Thomian goalkeeper to reduce the deficit to one, and bring back the noise in the Royal dominated stands. Yahiya Jaffer and Basith Yakoob scored the first two of these three goals, shooting from long range to take advantage of some lax Thomian defending.
The Thomian prop Sachitha Jayathileka then gave away a penalty that was slotted in calmly by the Royal skipper Chandula Fernando. S.Thomas’ managed to score one goal in the quarter as Deelaka Weerarathne notched his fourth goal of the evening at the cusp of half time to give the Thomians a two goal lead at 6-4.
Royal would have hoped to keep up the ante in the third quarter and try and match the Thomian goal tally, but were unable to find the back of the net due to a combination of some poor passing on their part, and excellent defensive play and goal keeping by the Thomians. While both goalkeepers made some good saves throughout the evening, the Thomian goalkeeper Kosala Wijeywardena was particularly impressive as usual, stopping some almost certain goal scoring opportunities.
The Thomians managed to score two goals of their own as their captain Aqeel Sourjah opened his account for the fixture and a beautiful lob pass by Shakya Gunatillake found Ashane Francis in front of goal to score the Thomians’ eighth.
The final quarter was all about damage control for the Royalists as they tried desperately to narrow the lead, whilst the Thomians were more adventurous with their play as they tried to extend it. Royal managed to pull things back at the start with Rifat Uwais scoring off a beautiful lob shot past the Thomian goalie before Royal made use of another extra man situation to score through Basith Yakoob.
The Thomian skipper Sourjah was unwilling to let the lead dwindle, as he scored two goals in succession. The second goal completed his hat trick, and was probably the goal of the match. It was off a beautiful pass by Keshan Munsainghe from the wing, and the finish can only be described as a one touch backhanded flick, leaving the opposing goalkeeper helpless and the spectators in awe.
Munasinghe, who had earlier made the first entry in the Thomians goal column, took it upon himself to also make the last, scoring on the counter after Kisal Asalarachchi inexplicably froze in front of goal at the other end, wasting a great scoring opportunity.
The Royal College skipper managed to pull one back in the dying seconds of the game off a set piece, yet the final tally still read 11-7 in favour of the blue and black, with a daunting four goal gap to bridge in the second leg.
S. Thomas’ will have to be wary about complacency and the odd defensive lapse that occurred in the middle parts of the game, whereas the Royalist will certainly have to rethink some of their strategies for next weeks’ encounter. How both teams adapt after seeing each other’s styles will certainly be an intriguing addition to the pot next week, and while S. Thomas’ will be very happy with their performance today, they should be aware that as it is with ever Hayman, the contest is far from over.
