After three years of continuous hockey victories, Royal College settles for a draw; S. Thomas’ proves to be stronger.
Off to a quick start after Royal College won the toss, the first strike was from the Blue Golds.Yet, it was not fast enough to make it to the goal, instead was kicked back easily by S. Thomas’ goalkeeper. Taking on from a corner Thomians were moving forward for a goal. At defense A. Perera and D. Lakshan from Royal college were making a strong effort to block the ball. However A.M. David for S. Thomas’ made a quick pass to secure the ball but this was not good enough; soon the ball was in the hands of the Royalists.
With game phase changing to and fro none of the teams were able to score a goal in the first half. Second half was furious. With a green card to the number 14 player, F. Irfaan of Royal College both schools were struggling for a goal. Outcome did not change the end result however. The full time too ended up with no goals scored in the game.
Running onto extra time the roars from spectators were rising, especially with S. Thomas’ looking for a victory to bring the trophy back home. After a ball toss, the battle began in very dim light conditions. It was not helpful towards the atmosphere for both the teams. The game carried on. It was a limited time of five minutes for the two teams, disregarding who will be the first to score. Unfortunately the extra time did not bring a change to the game. The final score remained at a zero for both the schools.
“Though it was a draw Royal retiains the trophy since we had been the winners for the last three years. Unfortunately we missed many chances. We should have easily won this match. We couldn’t afford some last minute mistakes by the forwards which made us end up in a draw,” remarked Royal College Hockey Coach, Rohan Dissanayake . “Our plan was to make use of the wings and also the penalty corners. This was planned because 7 seniors weren’t able to play in the match due to unavoidable reasons. With only 4 seniors in action I’m truly happy of the outcome; it’s a creditable achievement.”
Later commenting to ThePapare.com, the Captain of the S. Thomas’ College, D. M. Valihinda pointed out that, they were a confident side from the beginning that had the ability to defend a strong side like Royal College. However, S. Thomas’ College was not able to bring back the trophy to college. “We were on full attck in the extra time; yet we were not fortunate enough to make a goal. I’m really proud of my team mates though. They did a good job with hardly any mistakes,” he added.
