Ratnam SC maintains top position

Bernard PERERA

RATNAM Sports Club maintained its position at the top of the Kit Premier League standings with 26 points. They have already completed eleven games so far.

Last year's runners-up Ratnam SC are three points ahead of Negombo Youth Sports Club with whom they shared the top slot last week, end with 23 points.

Ratnam SC defeated Renown SC one goal to nil on Sunday. The only goal for winners coming in the 77th minute through the boot of N. R. M. Mohideen.

Meanwhile Negombo Youth Sports Club the holders of the Kit Premier League title failed to live up to expectations losing to Saunders Sports Club three goals to two. But the joint leaders in the standing stays at the second slot behind Ratnam SC with only a three point deficit.

Saunders SC who could not make any headway in the first round has done well moving on to the winning track in round two. These victories by them brought them to the fourth position.

Dudley Steinwal the Negombo skipper put his side into the lead in the 17th minute. C. L. Samarasinghe equalised in the 45th minute and the lemons were taken with the score reading one all. Negombo striker E. B. Channa scored the second goal for Negombo in the 62nd minute and they held onto the lead for a further 18 minutes. D. S. Dharmapala scored the equaliser for Saunders.

The match was heading for a draw but just a minute away from the final whistle Samarasekera booted the winning goal for Saunders SC.

Sri Lanka Air Force Sports Club stunned the Police SC on their home ground beating the homesters by four goals to one.

Airmen led at the halfway mark 2-1 with goals coming from K. Fernando in the 34th and 42nd minutes. H. B. Nuvantha netted the goal for Police in the 20th minute.

After the turn around S. Srikanth and I. Rahim got two more goals for winners Air Force in the 47th and 53rd minutes.

Blue Star Sports Club from Kalutara who are placed third in the standings too remains at the same spot after their victory over Kandy York SC. They defeated the Kandy Club by three goals to two.

M. Farzeen and M. Fawzan scored for Kalutara Club in the first session of play but Kandy too managed to score twice in this season to go for lemons on equal terms 2-2.

The second half was evenly contested. Just five minutes away from the final whistle M. Rameez found the net which sealed victory for Kalutara team. In a segment 'B' match Matara SC put up a gallant performance to hold the strong outfit from Kotahena Old Bens Sports Club to a four all draw.

A. R. Dissanayake (1) M. K. P. Danuka (2) and H. K. L. Sadeheva (1) scored for Matara SC while D. R. Pinto (2), A. Prabagar and P. Lakshitha scored for the Kotahena club.

Gampola Red Sun Sports Club outplayed New Youngs Sports Club from Wennappuwa two goals to one.

Red Sun were in front at the end of the first session two goals to one. W. A. S. Perera equalised in the 80th minute. Five minutes later Red Sun SC got the winning goal through the boot of P. Jayaratne.

Results:

Segment A - Saunders SC beat Negombo Youth SC 3-2. SL Air Force SC beat SL Police SC 4-1. Ratnam SC beat SL Air Force SC 1-0. Blue Star SC beat Kandy York SC 3-2.

Segment B - Matara SC drew with Old Bens SC 4-4. Red Sun SC beat New Youngs SC 2-1. Kalutara Park SC Vs Golden Star SC match postponed due to bad weather. Jupiters SC drew with Java Lane SC 1-1.