S. Thomas’ College pushed past Trinity College in a 1-0 win after a hard-fought battle to win the 9th Annual Trinity-S. Thomas’ Football Encounter, at the S. Thomas’ College Big Club Grounds, Mt. Lavinia.
With this win the Thomians have now kept the Shield in Mount Lavinia for a fifth successive year. Trinity won in 2011 (3-2) & 2013 (1-0) while the inaugural encounter in 2010, 2012 & 2016 were draws with scores reading 2-2, 0-0 & 0-0 respectively.
De Alwis header punishes wasteful Trinity
Trinity, through some smart wing play, had a number of chances to break the deadlock, but failures on the part
S. Thomas’ had to wait four years before they won the Shield for the first time in 2014 under Avantha Elapatha (4-1). They then went onto win 2-0 & 1-0 in 2015 & 2017 respectively.
First half started off right away with a close goal scoring opportunity for the visiting side, Trinity College. To their credit they also managed to keep the momentum from the start throughout the first half of the match.
Trinity managed to exert the most pressure in the first half leaving the Thomian defence on their toes. However, it was Senal De Alwis, the striker for S.Thomas’ who put the home side in the lead with a clinical finish to the left corner.
Even then, the game continued with Trinity dominating most of the half but had no cutting edge to turn the countless goal scoring opportunities into goals.
Half Time – S. Thomas’ College 1 – 0 Trinity College
The second half of the encounter took a different turn as the Thomian side pushed for another goal to seal the win. S.Thomas’ created several attacks through the side lines but was unable to finish up with a goal.
Trinity in the mean time was putting their bodies on the line to make sure they were still in the game. As the game went on, both sides kept balanced possession and displayed some good football with beautiful passes and team play.
Both teams had several opportunities nonetheless but was not able to create a goal out of them. Towards the end of the game, Trinity started to apply more pressure on the Thomian defence in search of an equalizer but was blocked by the strong defensive play followed.
S. Thomas’ led by captain Jiovani Kanagasundaram managed to hold on to their lead as the referee blew the final whistle marking another victory for the Thomians in this annual football encounter.
Full Time – S. Thomas’ College 1 – 0 Trinity College
Most Valuable Player – Senal De Alwis
Best Goalkeeper – Ishrath Raji
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