Goal each by Afam Akram, Danusha Perera and a brace by Isuru Sampath sent the ruthless Peterites into the final of the Kotmale Chox U19 Schools Football Championship.
S.Peter’s dominated the match and De Mazenod College had no respite as the Bambalapitiya lads took the game from the scruff of the neck to beat De Mazenod 4-0 at the Sugathadasa Stadium.
S.Peter’s had been in excellent form this tournament with a close 1-0 win against their arch rivals S.Joseph’s College in their opening group game, hard fought 2-2 draw against a strong Joseph Vaz side and crusied in the next couple of games with 5-1 and 8-0 wins against Holy Cross Kalutara and Lyceum International School respectively. In their quarter final they met the all conquering schools football powerhouse Hameed Al Husseinie and simply outplayed and outclassed the Kotahena lads 3-0.
De Mazenod lost their opening group game against Ananda 6-2 without three of their regulars who were out on Sri Lanka youth duty. They recovered from the early blip to crush Nalanda 6-0 in their next outing. De Mazenod defeated Overseas School and S.Benedict’s College with the same 3-1 score line to book a place in the quarter finals. In a very close quarter final against Royal College, De Mazenod scored two quick injury time goals to defeat the Reid Avenue boys 4-1.
S.Peter’s had the lion’s share of possession throughout the game but could only open their account in the 41st minute when Isuru Sampath got on the end of a Niresh Suntharaj through ball and drilled it past the on rushing De Mazenod goalkeeper Supun Harshana.
Just before halftime Isuru had the ball in the net from a free kick but was deemed offside by the linesman. However Isuru made no mistake in the 61st minute when he again received the ball from Niresh, who brilliantly worked his way down the left to add the second even though he couldn’t connect it properly.
A minute after De Mazenod captain Jehan Morais was sent off for a second bookable offense Afam Akram scored the third in the 73rd minute from close range. Again the assist was by Niresh Suntharaj who had a magnificent game conducting the match from the midfield and was at the heart of every Peterite attack.
In the 82nd minute Danusha Perera scored the fourth as the already crestfallen De Mazenod looked on. Sri Lanka Youth and De Mazenod goalkeeper Supun Harshana had a good game even though he was helpless to prevent the four goals. He pulled off two exceptional saves in the first half from Niresh and Isuru. Had it not been for him, the score line would have been much worse for the boys from Kandana.
Early on in the game it was the De Mazenod attack that was creating problems for the Peterites with former Sri Lanka U15 captain Ranju Silva together with Sri Lanka Youth player Pasindu Gunasekara at the fore front. Ranju put a delightful through ball in the 10th minute to Pasindu, but Pasindu’s first touch was too much and the goalkeeper smothered the ball.
There after another opportunity came to Pasindu when Shanuka Felix nipped the ball from David Prakash and squared off the ball to Pasindu, who could only sky the ball from close range. There after it was all S.Peter’s as Niresh, Afam Akram, Isuru Sampath and Niran Fernando combined well to create opportunities. Afam was creating havoc down the right flank for Hashan Thurairatnam,who had no answer to Afam’s pace and trickery.
Just after halftime Pasindu had a golden opportunity to equalize when De Mazenod was awarded a penalty when he barged his way past Mohomed Mufeed into the penalty box only to be fouled by Mufeed. It was a horror penalty taken by Pasindu, who could only let the ball fly way over the crossbar. Minute later S.Peter’s scored the second adding salt to the De Mazenod wounds.
