Thomians take charge of Orville Abeynaike Memorial Trophy
A Thomian strikes as Royal defenders do their part - Pic by Ranjith Perera
S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia retained the Orville Abeynaike Memorial Hockey Trophy with a 1-0 victory over arch rivals Royal College at the Astro Turf, Colombo 7 yesterday.
Thomians, who beat Royal last year to brake a seven year hoodoo, have taken charge of the coveted Orville Abeynaike Trophy for yet another year.
The game got off with speed as both sides made moves in finding the goal but the sound defence lines of both schools kept the other away each time they came close to scoring. Forwards of both schools were fed with good ball by the wingers but both schools failed to put the finishing touches in most occasions. The first half came to a close without any side sounding the board.
The second half too produced some fine display of stick work and at the 47th minute Savindu Wanigasooriya put the Thomians in front with a well-timed goal. Royal, making good moves, tried their best to equalize but failed as the rock solid Thomian defence drove them back.
The long whistle was blown with the score standing 1-0 in favour of the Thomians as winners of the 19th edition of the Royal-Thomian Hockey Encounter.
In the Under-16 encounter Royal trounced S. Thomas’ 2-1. In the 17th minute of the first half Royal went ahead with a goal scored by Tharindu Alahakoon. R.Jayasinghe put Royal in front with another goal in the 29th minute while M.A. Iflal sounded the board for Thomians in the 33rd minute.
Royal defeated S. Thomas’ 2-0 in the Old Boys’ match to win the Nihal Nilaweera Trophy. Goal scorers were F. Halaj and S. Kuthubdeen.