New Stars United proved to be too good for Badovita United in a one sided affair ending 5-0 in favour of the boys from Panadura in the Premier League Division I opening fixture held at Cooray Park.
New Stars SC were coming off from a disappointed loss against Jet Liners in FA Cup and Gold Cup final loss at the hands of Ratnam SC, faced Badovita United in the Group A match up.
It was Badovita United who took early advantage of the proceedings by working through the flanks. But New Stars was quick enough to settle into the game and taking control of the possession, they never looked back.
Mohamed Siras, the goalkeeper of Badovita United had a tough time dealing with the forwards of New Stars, and was forced make some saves early in the game. He saw-off the danger literally using all the parts of his body as he stopped, headed and kicked away the efforts of Mohamed Anas, Nizam Safan and Mohamed Sajan.
Photo Album – Badovita United vs New Star – Premier League Division 1
Despite making some great efforts to stop New Stars from scoring, he was let down by his defenders who were out of position throughout the game. Badovita United made two early changes bringing in Thushara and Priyantha to add some pace.
Things started to heat up both teams started to commit unwanted challenges leaving referee with no choice but to show 3 yellow cards in 7 minutes including one to the captain of New Stars, Safan.
New Stars broke the dead lock in the 34th minute when Anas made a brilliant run to collect Safan’s through ball and buried it into the bottom left corner opening the floodgates.
Anas made it two nil before the half time with a wonderful solo goal. He bamboozled two defenders on his way before rounding off the keeper and slotting the ball inside the post.
Half Time- New Stars SC 2-0 Badovita United
New Stars started the second half from where they left off. Sajan had a glorious open-goal chance but opted to use his legs instead of his head and missed the target.
The opportunities for Badovita United to score goals were limited and even when the chances arrived; they were unable to capitalize on those. Maduranga failed to control a decent header and a few free kick chances near the penalty box of New Stars were wasted by Pradeep Ranga.
New Stars made some changes bringing in some fresh legs in the hour mark to up the tempo. The pace of the New Stars forwards proved to be too good for Badovita United defenders who started to make some reckless challenges out of frustration.
In the 57th minute, New Stars scored their 3rd goal of the game. This time Anas providing an assist to Vinathan who made no mistake in scoring.
Despite missing an easy chance in the 81st minute, Anas made amends by completing his hat-trick with yet another solo goal in the 88th minute.
New Stars SC completed the massacre by scoring the fifth goal in the 90th minute as another defensive error from Badovita United was punished by Sajan.
Badovita United players who hardly had the ball in their possession in the second half tried some long range efforts for a consolation goal in the dying minutes but couldn’t find the target.
Referee blew the final whistle ending the misery of Badovita United players.
Full time- New Stars SC 5-0 Badovita United
ThePapare.com Player of the match: Mohamed Anas (New Stars SC)
The score line justified the match as it was all New Stars throughout the match. Badovita United will have to sort the issues out quickly before their next game, especially the fitness level of the players who were visibly tired from the hour mark and played for the whistle.
Meanwhile, New Stars SC will look on to capitalize on the perfect start and to qualify for the Quarter Finals.
