Saunders knocked-out from quarter-finals

Bernard Perera

Saunders Sports Club was eliminated from the Invitation Soccer Tournament quarter-finals when they were beaten by New Youngs Sports Club Wennappuwa by four goals to nil yesterday at City Football League ground. It was a humiliating defeat for the one time soccer giants from Pettah.

Spectators who were present hoping to witness a good game of soccer were not the happiest as the game turned out to be one sided.

It was New Youngs who drew first blood in the 13th minute of the game through the boot of Sampath Perera who headed the ball towards the goal from a melee in front of the goal to baffle the custodian. With three minutes left in the first session Gihan Janaka extended the lead through a free kick taken 30 metre away from the goal to put the visiting team in front.

The worst happened for the Pettah team at this stage with former Saunders skipper Dharmapala being sent off the field for using abusive language on referee G.N. Rubesh. Dharmapala has been given the marching orders during the Premier League and after an inquiry was suspended for three matches.

The management of Saunders SC should take great care of players who receive yellow and Red Cards. This has become a habit for these players which is a bad blow for the club.

In fact this decision was highly proved yesterday as the Pettah Club had to play one full session with only ten players which also brought about their defeat.

Though New Youngs SC took an early lead the Pettah Club played well upto the interval making many good moves towards their opponent territory but failed to capitalize from these moves to reduce the lead.

The second session was a complete domination by the visiting team. They managed to extend the lead through the goal scored again by Sampath Perera.

With only a few seconds away from the final whistle R.T.I. Rahim in solo effort dribbled throng four opponents to score and seal victory for the Wennappuwa team which also paved the way for them to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Phoenix Cup.