Police managed to comeback in the second half to equalize the scores after letting their opponent lead the game for 80 minutes.
Sri Lanka Army played against Sri Lanka Police in their second round match of the Dialog Champions League held at Police Park. Army being the favorites could not put up the expected show even though they led the game for a long period, in contrast Police being the underdogs of the game bounced back in the second half with an equalizer.
Striker Rajitha of Police scored the penalty to draw the game 1-1 in the latter part of the match. The referees for the game seemed inexperienced as a huge number of mistakes were made by them and both teams were unhappy by their decisions.
The home team was under pressure throughout the match as they rarely got a chance to attack and they were thrashed by Renown S.C in the previous game played a few days ago.
Army takes lead in the first half
The match was kicked off in favor of the soldiers. Strikers M.Izzadeen and Sajith Kumara showed their talents as usual but the outcome was negative. The ball was played by Army for few minutes after the kick off. Though the Police players tried to grab the ball, the Soldiers were alert and ready at any moment. Once the ball was intercepted by the left winger Sampath Pathirana of Police, opponent Nadeeka Pushpakumara tackled him from the behind. The first free kick of the game was awarded to the home team which was kicked out of the field towards a different direction. Police started to attack from that point. A few minutes later skipper B.Warakagoda headed a ball which was crossed to the center of the penalty box by star striker M.Izzadeen. Warakagoda helped his team lead the game with a margin of 1-0. Thereafter a corner kick awarded to the Police team was kicked to the far post by Rajitha Jayavilal. Striker S.Sakeef headed the ball to the goal post, unfortunately goalkeeper K.Sirisena saved the ball.
While attacking another foul made by the Police team helped the Soldiers obtain a free kick, but the shot taken by defender H.Widuranga was a miss nearly gracing the side bars.
Izzadeen had the chance of scoring an easy goal when left winger M.De Silva crossed the ball to the far post. Being free without covered by any man Izzadeen tried a volley kick to score the goal without controlling the ball. Izzadeen failed to score as the ball went out of direction.
Second half concludes with an equalizer by Rajitha.
The Police team stepped onto the field fresh after the breather and the Army players were over confident as they had taken their opponents for granted. The style of Army played showed their attitude toward their opponent and the game.
A set play tried by the home team players was perfectly played but the finishing was unhappy. A lob pass from the kick off to the right winger Nilantha Pathirana who collected the ball without any obstacle crossed the ball to the penalty box area. None of the strikers made their way to collect the ball to score.
Another free kick was awarded to the Police team which was taken by defender Sujith Sanjeewa. The kick went to the edge of the goal post as everyone expected it to be a goal. Army goalkeeper K. Sirisena made a dive to collect the ball beautifully.
No.22 of Army L.Jayathunga was given a yellow card by the referee for a push from behind. This incident helped the home team to score when referee decided to award a penalty. Striker Rajitha Jayavilal scored the penalty to equalize the game in the 80th minute.
Army was disappointed to have faced a draw against the Police team as it was unexpected to the soldiers, but the home team was delight with their comeback.
