Army beat Saunders; retain FA Cup for third successive year
The victorious Army SC with the FA Cup, they won for the sixth time - Pic by Priyantha Wickramaarachchi
Sri Lanka Army Sports Club completed a hat-trick of titles when they defeated Saunders Sports Club 4-2 in the Vantage FA Cup Football Tournament final encounter played under lights at the Sugathadasa Stadium yesterday.
Army SC who had emerged back-to-back champions in 2016 and 2017 once again made it a memorable final as they went on to win the FA Cup for the sixth occasion in their football history.
Army SC got off to a flying start and they managed to build up a commanding 2-0 lead less than 30 minutes into the first half.
M. N. Issaddeen provided the early lead with a splendid effort in the 16th minute which was followed by another brilliant goal from J. Bernard in the 26th minute.
However, Saunders SC came back into the game and reduced the deficit through a penalty from S. Niresh shortly before half time.
After the break, Army SC further extended their lead with Issaddeen scoring his second goal of the match in the 84th minute.
Chamod Dilshan scored the second goal for Saunders SC during injury time before Kasun Pradeep netted the fourth goal for Army SC to complete a 4-2 victory.
Meanwhile, Issaddeen won the Golden Boot Award while his teammate Mohamed Luthifi won the Golden Glove Award and B. Warakagoda also from Army SC was named as the Most Valuable Player of the final.
The winners, Army SC received a cash award of Rs. 700,000 while the runners-up Saunders SC received a cash award of Rs. 500,000.