Kaveen Palliyaguruge scored two goals in the last 10 minutes as he pushed Rahula College, Matara to a 2-0 win over Ananda College, Maradana in the Kotmale Chox Schools’ U19 Football Championship group match at the Football Federation Grounds, Matara.
In the early minutes of the game Ananda put pressure on the Rahula boys with back to back sprints into the box. The lads from Colombo seemed much stronger than the lads from Matara.
But Ananda College’s attacking strategy did not last long, as the Rahula captain Salindu Sanjan slipped his way into the box in a bid to score but he was stopped by the goalkeeper, who grabbed the ball away from his path.
The drive from the Rahula captain inspired his teammates as the Rahula boys, in turn started to put pressure on the Anandians. The Anandians looked positive but Anandian Kisal Levenjith missed a chance to score an easy goal.
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Both teams were in a feisty tussle to score a goal but neither had a chance to reach the box until the 60th minute of the game. The minutes were filled with bad passes.
Kaveen had an effort on target saved by the Ananda goalkeeper and from the resulting corner his header hit the crossbar and went away, while he missed another chance later on.
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However He turned around his fortunes in the 81st minute as he scored the first for the hosts.
Salindu’s curving free-kick was brilliantly saved by the Ananda goalkeeper as he kept his side in the game, but not for long as Kaveen doubled the score just before full time.
ThePapare.com Player of the Match: Kaveen Palliyaguruge
