In a clash between two fresh looking sides at Kelaniya Football Ground, Saunders and New Youngs settled for a 1-all draw in their first round game in the Dialog Champions League yesterday.
Saunders having made a kick-start with the aim of recording a win indicated when their strikers took the ball almost to the nets and missed it by a whisker in the opening minute itself. They were far from putting the finishing touches to their gallant efforts in striking for a goal until Manogaran Vijayasurendran’s boots gave relieve for Saunders.
With that Saunders took the lead at the breather 1-0 and after the turnaround they missed almost ten scoring attempts. On the other hand New Youngs who fielded a set of youngsters from their hometown of Wennappuwa made sure they thwarted each attempt by the Saunders players. Four minutes from full time New Youngs earned a golden opportunity to equalize through a penalty which skipper Ruchira Fernando made of it to complete the game on a clean sheet.
In another game played at Police Park, Don Bosco left hosts Police Sports Club almost as spectators when they were drubbed them 3-0. Don Bosco had the game entirely under their control as Dilki Kumar Fernando gave the winners their first goal during the first half to lead by 1-0. Striker Nipuna Bandara netted the second goal for Don Bosco. They were awarded a penalty during the latter stages of the game which Brian Weerappuli successfully netted. |
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