Defending champs Ratnam through to final

Bernard PERERA

Ratnam Sports Club from Kotahena the holders of the Premier League title made their way to the final when they defeated one time champions Negombo Youth Sports Club four goals to one at CR & FC ground yesterday.

The match on the whole was packed with many incidents and the referee G.N. Robesh had a tough time in handling the game. He had to pull out the record to sent two Negombo Youth player out of the ground.

Ratnam SC entered the fray with a slight advantage by having Sri Lanka’s two main strikers Kasun Jayasuriya and E.B. Channa. In fact they were the heroes for the Kotahena Club as they shared the four goals amongst them.

Though they had this advantage the Kotahena boys were held for 40 minutes by the Negombo team. It was E.B. Channa who found the net in the 40th minute collecting the ball from a melee and scored.

This lead for Ratnam SC did not last long as the referee ordered a penalty to the Negombo team when a Ratnam player touched the ball inside the bore. A.S. Rifaz Ahamed made no mistake with the kick to find the equaliser. With scores on level the teams came out for lemons. Negombo Youth skipper missed three easy goal scoring opportunities. If he managed to score through them the game could have changed in their favour.

The second session began with Ratnam SC making strong come back and having most of the possession. But it took 23 minutes to find the net through the boot of Kasun Jayasuriya. Jayasuriya received a good pass from his companion E.B. Channa. Seven minutes later it was Kasun struck again to put him side in front 3-1 and added more pressure on the rivals.

Negombo teams R.M.J.D. Ratnayake who received a warning earlier was found fault again in the 60th minute and the referee had to send him out of the field.

Negombo players were seen going for players than the fall the result being referee awarding a penalty to Ratnams and Kasun beat the custodian comfortably found the net.

With just ten minutes away from the whistle T.S. Muneer Salley was found fault by the referee for the second time and was sent off the field leaving Negombo Youth SC to battle with only nine players for the remainder of the game. The injury time saw another free kick been award to Kotahena team and E.B. Channa put things harder for the Negombo team by scoring his second and the fourth goal for his side. The game ended with the score reading 4-1.

Referee G.N. Robesh pulled the yellow card on seven occasions to warn the player for rough play.

Kasun Jayasuriya who won the Golden Boot award on an earlier occasion is on the road to achieve the same this year because the top goal getter this season. Before the semis he had a tally of 11 goals under his belt. Army’s Mohamed Issadeen was the other contender for this award, but Kasun’s two goals yesterday put him in front again making his tally to 13 goals.

It will of great interest to see how Issadeen will fare today when his team Sri Lanka Army take on Sri Lanka Air Force in the second semi-final today at the same venue with the kick off scheduled for 3.30 p.m.

This season Sri Lanka Army has performed well to be right on top maintaining a fine unbeaten record uptodate. The star for the soldiers being their striker Issadeen.

On the other side Airmen too has been consistent with their performance throughout the season. Today it will be something like a grudge battle for both teams. It can be said that both teams are equally balanced and the side get to the front first could make it to the final.

The game has to be played in the correct spirit and show the general public that sports can produce discipline citizens.

In yesterday’s game the players did not give disciplined game which also does not give a good picture about soccer to the public. Rough play by a side could give the advantage to the opposition which also could not produce good results. Fair play is the most wanted thing in this type of play.