Blue Star’s Mohomed Nafais scored with five minutes left in regular time but was unable to add another as they lost to Colombo FC 2-1 in the late kick-off at the Sugathadasa Stadium.
D.Madusanka scored the opener just before half time and A.C.Samson doubled the lead for the hosts in the 83rd minute. Blue Star struck back soon after to cut the lead in half but the Colombo FC defense held on for the final minutes to win the vital three points. Colombo FC was the better team on the day however missed a host of opportunities throughout the match.
Blue Star were coming off a mid week defeat to Java Lane but coach Mohomed Hamza was optimistic about their chances in his pre match interview with ThePapare.com.
“We had a good match against Java Lane. Missed a penalty, which I thought was unfortunate. However we had a good season thus far with one win, three draws and a loss. All this without eight of our players, who are unavailable due to injuries.”
“Today we’ll be lining up in an attacking 3-5-2 formation. We’ll be looking to dominate the mid field and possession.”
Mohomed Roomy, coach of Colombo FC was in with a plan to counter the tall central defenders of Blue Star, after having witnessed the mid week match of his opponents.
“They have tall, well built defenders but they are slow. Our game plan will counter the effect of them. We play a passing game and we have a lot of pace in our strikers which we’ll use to turn the defenders around.” Roomy added.
Colombo FC was dealt a heavy blow when their prolific striker in the absence of Frank, Bodrie Dimitri had to be replaced due to a knee injury. It was the visitor’s from Kalutara who had the early advantage with the extra man in midfield and dominated the Colombo FC in the opening exchanges.
Blue Star had a golden opportunity to take the lead when Mohomed Farzeen went around an on rushing goalkeeper and sent the ball towards the goal only to be denied of a magnificent goal line clearance by Mohomed Rizni.
With the last play of the first half the smallest player on the park, Madusanka leapt above the tall Blue Star defenders to convert a cross with a bullet header to the goal to give the advantage to the hosts heading into half time.
After lemons Colombo FC took the initiative and started to control the game with veteran midfielder Raumy Mohideen pulling the strings. The former Sri Lanka captain was exceptional as the Blue Star mid field had no answer to his composed play and vision.
Mohideen sent a defense piercing diagonal pass to Madusanka inside the box whose left footed effort beat the goalkeeper on his near post but was cleared off his lines by Blue Star captain Mohomed Rifkan. With just ten minutes left both sides were chasing a goal and Mohideen this time sent Samson through on the right of the box who controlled the ball and crashed it past the keeper to give a 2-0 lead.
Almost immediately the Colombo FC defense relaxed and let in substitute Mohomed Nafais score for Blue Star but held on after a verbal berate to his men by coach Roomy from the touchline.
“We missed a lot of chances. The loss of Dimitri in the first half also affected our finishing but no excuses. And we switched off after getting the second goal which is a cardinal mistake. We need to improve,” a not so pleased Mohomed Roomy said even after a valuable three points.
