Gampola Zahirians victorious

Bernard Perera

Zahira College, Gampola carried away the All Island Schools u-19 Division II Milo Trophy beating Zahira College, Mawanella in a tie breaker four goals to two after the game ended in a one all draw at the Henry Pedris Stadium yesterday.

The game was evenly contested through to the final whistle. Mawanella lads were in full control of the first session and took an early lead in the eleventh minute when their striker M.T.M. Zamil got pass the defenders to find net. The Mawanella team held on to this lead until the lemons.

After the turn around it was Gampola lads who took control of the session and with only two minutes in to the second session S.U.A. Hassan got the equaliser for the Gampola Zahira.

Thereon wards it was Gampola boys who put more pressure on the opponents and were seen penetrating the defence line on many occasions but the strikers failed to find the correct target. This failure caused the teams to go for the.

The Mawanella lads too had many scoring opportunities to score during this period here too it was the strikers fault that did not bring in god results for the Mawanella team. The game ended with the score reading one all and the referee Z.A.M. Ousman had to call for the tei breaker system to decide the game.

At times the players were seen taking to rough play and going for the man rather than the ball. Referee had pullout the yellow card thrice during the first session of play. This is something that the coaches of these schools should take great care in guiding them on the correct path specially on the field as these are the ones who are hoping to be future stars.

In fact an ugly scene took place when some of the schoolchildren who were in uniforms attacking the others school supporters. On inquiry it was revealed that this has taken place during the preliminary game between these two teams and the Principal of one of the schools has stopped seven regulars playing in the final. It is a commendable decision taken to punish the offending players to discipline them at the right time.

The Division II was contested by 44 teams from all parts of the country in the preliminary round.

Hindu College Manipay victorious

The Division III final too was played yesterday at the same venue prior to the Div. II final between Zahira College, Kalmunai and Hindu College, Manipay. This game too was of high interest as both these teams arrived in Colombo for the first time for a tournament of this magnitude.

Hindu College won the Division III title too on a tie breaker system as this game too ended in a one all draw. Kalmunai team got ahead in the 15th minute of the game but the lads from Jaffna fought a grim battle to find the equalizer after 18 minutes through skipper Anton Nirosh. None of the teams could score during the second half and the scores stood at one all after 70 minutes.

Director Physical Education L.K. Jayaweera was the chief guest and gave away the main awards. Sri Lanka Schools Football Association President Rev. Bro Granville Perera, ‘Milo’, Brand Manager Mohan de Silva, SLSFA Secretary Milroy Perera and SLSFA Asst. Sec. Prabath Wijesuriya too were present on the occasion and distributed the medals.

The quarter finals of the Division I Championship will commence on Thursday with three matches scheduled to be played at St. Benedict’s College ground, the other at Sports Ministry ground, Reid Avenue Colombo 07.