First half goal by Nipuna Bandara was enough as Air Force secured their first win of the Super 8 stage in the Dialog Champions League at the Sugathadasa Stadium.
Photo Album – Air Force SC v Java Lane – Dialog Champions League 2015 (Super 8)
Air Force missed a host of chances in the second half but Nipuna Bandara scoring amidst those misses gave Air Force their first win of the Super 8’s at the Dialog Champions League 2015.
As usual it was the Air-Men who started off positively camping inside the opposition half and creating chances. Java Lane with low confidence sat back in their own and was set up for the counter attack.
Air Force attacked from the wings where Kavindu Ishan and Dimuthu Lakmal were patrolling. It was Lakmal who was given the opportunity to score with a wide open goal but shot straight at the crossbar from close range, after good work done by Ishan.
Lakmal was given further two more chances to redeem himself but once again failed to convert firing them wide of goal. Dilshan Fernando was denied twice by Dammika Senarath when he saved the initial shot from point blank range and palmed away the rebound.
Air Force finally got on the scoreboard when Nipuna Bandara fired home amidst a scramble inside the penalty box in the 16th minute. Java Lane were lucky not be down by more than a goal and after Air Force got the lead tried to create chances of their own but failed.
It was a lackluster second half as both sides failed to make a real influence in the match especially Java Lane who are without any wins, lacked impetus upfront. Air Force too looked sedated as Java Lane strengthened the defense not to concede more goals.
ThePapare.com Man of the Match: Kavindu Ishan
Air Force coach Tuwan Raheem: “As a coach I am not at all pleased with the performance because we did some finishing at practice. We looked at what went wrong in that match against Renown and wanted to rectify but it hadn’t worked. We’ve been good in defense in the last few matches because we identified our mistakes.”
