Sunthararaj Niresh scored a brace and Ashfaq Ayub saved a penalty as St.Peter’s College put an end to the half a decade long St.Joseph’s dominance in emphatic fashion, with a 3-0 win in their 25th Annual Football Encounter at CR&FC.
Photo Album – St.Peter’s College v St.Joseph’s College – 25th Footbal Encounter
The Josephians with their dominance in the recent past in this encounter and also defeating the Peterites in the Zahira 7’s a week prior would have been confident but with five Sri Lanka U19 players in the ranks, the lads from Bambalapitiya were favourites in the build up to the encounter.
Niresh Sunderaraj, one of the five Sri Lankan U19 players controlled the entire game with his masterclass talent. The center midfielder used his game knowledge to the maximum and managed to score two brilliant goals. Skipper for the boys in yellow, Angelo Perera did not let the opponents pass the defense line along with Dhananjaya Supramitha and Jerome Kaushal. Ashfaq Ayub was safe as a house between the posts, saving a penalty at the beginning of the game.
Charaka Udayangama missed a penalty when Ashfaq saved it easily. Since that moment none of their shots reached their target. Strikers Sachintha Maduranga and Mayuraka Perera tried their level best to change the score sheet. But lack of support from the midfielders prevented them from getting to their target. Goalkeeper Rasanjaya Anuranga was the weak point of the Josephians having not enough experience proved a bane in crucial situations.
First goal of the game was scored by the Peshala Rajakaruna. A shot taken by Niran Fernando deflected to Peshala, who brushed aside two defenders and lobbed it over the goalkeeper Rasanjaya Anuranga in the 21st minute.
The opportunity of a comeback presented itself, when the Josephians got the chance of scoring which was a failure. The nail-biting moment came when referee had to award the penalty to the boys in blue, due to a tackle from behind. Charaka placed the penalty shot to the right side and Ashfaq judging it, easily caught the ball without any hesitation.
Latter part of the first half Niresh scored the second goal for St.Peter’s. Collecting a rebound ball and dribbling past few opponents, Niresh took his time to place the ball on the nets.
Peterites led the game during the break 2-0.
In the 2nd half the Josephians got closer to the goal line yet unable to finish. Boys from Darley Road were taking the game much smoother and slower.
While the Josephians failed to score the Peterites put the game to bed with a wonderfully taken overhead-kick. Ishan Danusha and Peshala combined for a Danusha effort which was punched away by the goalkeeper but only until Niresh who connected his overhead-kick perfectly for the third sending the home fans wild.
ThePapare.com Man of the Match: Niresh Sundararaj
Ashfaq Ayub was awarded the Most Valuable Player of the match. Niresh Sundararaj was awarded the Best Player from St.Peter’s College and Sachintha Maduranga was awarded Best Player from St.Joesph’s College.
Speaking to ThePapare.com coach of the winning team, Isuru Uditha Perera,
“The boys have done a great job and improved a lot from the time I took over the side, It’s been just one year and I’m really happy we could take the trophy back home after 5 years. All the hard work done by the players, staff and the management helped us achieve the victory.”
In the junior matches and Old Boys match Old Joes bounced back with two goals to one against Old Peterites while U13 teams drew the game and Peterites grabbed the match in the U15 category.
