Dhanushka Madushanka scored a hat-trick and Zarwan Johar added a brace as Colombo FC surged through to the top of the table with a dominant 6-0 win against one time champions Negombo Youth at Kew Points road.
Colombo FC went into half time with two goals from Madushanka and A.C. Frank’s first goal since recovering from an ACL injury which saw him missing a year and the first in seven matches. Madushanka completed his hat-trick midway through the second half while substitute Zarwan Johar scored two back to back goals in the last couple of minutes much to the delight of his home town fans.
The hosts were coming into the match having won the first two matches and keeping clean sheets in both while Negombo Youth won 3-1 against Thihariya Youth the previous week after being beaten by Navy on opening day.
“We are well conditioned even though we lost the first match we have played well. Today ground conditions are poor but I have instructed them to play one tap football to negate the poor ground conditions,” Kamaldeen Kabir, coach of Negombo Youth added before the match.
However much to the disappointment of the visiting coach Negombo Youth were never able to get a foothold on the match as Colombo FC outplayed and outclassed them. Midway through the first half the Sri Lanka U19 captain, Dhanushka Madushanka headed in the opener from close range to give the lead. Frank laid the ball off to Niran Khanishka whose cross into the box found an unmarked Madushanka who guided in perfectly.
Then in the 38th minute Bodrie Dimitri muscled his way into the box and sent the ball across the goal for Frank to finish off at the far post. 2013 season’s second highest goal scorer found his first goal in more than a year sending ominous signs for the rest of the teams.
Just before halftime Dimitri, who wreaked havoc on the left flank toyed with Manjula Kumara and made him look like an amateur as the African went to the byline where his cross was converted by Madushanka coming ahead of the defenders.
In the 71st minute again the Dimitri-Madushanka combination worked to give the hosts the fourth goal identical to the third goal. Dimitri again having switched wings tormented Indika Pradeep, coming down to the byline and sending a low cross where Madushanka completed his-hatrick.
Towards the end the Slave Island local hero, Zarwan Johar was substitute and he made an impact with two late goals largely due to sloppy defending. Zarwan’s first came when he was sent through on goal and he calmly slotted it past the onrushing goalkeeper Vimukthi Maduwantha.
The 6th and final goal came with the final play of the game when again Zarwan was on goal but was initially tackled, however the defender was unable to clear and the determined Zarwan scored the goal from close range.
ThePapare.com Man of the Match: Bodrie Dimitri
“Our coach Roomy has gone on national duty with the Sri Lanka U16 team and the atmosphere was somewhat empty for us. However we all worked hard under the guidance of our assistant and goalkeeping coach Lalith to achiever this win since we had that intial pressure. The early first half goals helped our confidence. Honestly I didn’t expect the guys would play well like this,” satisfied captain Rawme Mohideen told to ThePapare.com after the match.
