Royal College beat Kingswood College Kandy in a hard fought game to retain the Lennie De Silva Challenge Trophy for the ninth successive year, when the two teams confronted each other at their annual hockey encounter at Astro turf Ground today.
Royalist overcame Kingswood 5-0 to annex the title, after left-extreme Malitha Gamage sounded the board in the 15th minute and right after Anojan Ganasen scored another goal for royalist. At half time Royal lead 2-0.
Despite the scoreline at half time, the game was played at a furious pace and exchanges were even.Though Royal had the better of the exchanges and the territorial advantage, Kingswood made many inroads into the Royal territory and were distinctly unlucky not to have scored.
The second half was evenly contested with both sides making some superb moves. Royal drew first blood when skipper Shahir Bhari sounded the boards to help his side to a more extensive lead. Shortly afterwards and with a few minutes on the clock Centre Forward Imantha Dole slotted in another goal for the Royalist. Just before the final whistle, Bhari had the last-hurrah scoring at the death to give Royal an emphatic 5-nill triumph over their rivals to clinch the trophy. Shahir Bhari, Imantha Dole and Anojan Ganasen excelled for Royal making a severe impact on the game.
M. Noushad and Chandana Herath controlled the game.
In the junior match played earlier, Kingswood had the better of Royal 2-1 to annexe the Kathab Roshan Trophy.
