Army breaks all defences to win title

Sri Lanka Army Soccerites broke through the defence line of defending Champions Ratnam SC to touch the Dialog Premier League championship at CR & FC grounds yesterday. This success for Army in a major tourney came after a long period of 13 years. The last major tourney they won was the FA Cup way back in 1995.


The soldiers coached by former national player Major S. Pathmanathan played the best soccer that was expected in a mega final of this nature. Ratnam SC entered the fray with high hopes but failed to settle down quickly and the soldiers got their act together immediately to trouble their opponents.

The Army strikers were always seen in their opponentsâ€s territory trying to get the most needed lead they were looking for. The strikers could not capitalise from the four opportunities they got during the first twenty minutes of play missing goals to surprise the packed house at the CR & FC ground.

Ratnam SC players in the meantime settled down and were moving the ball well but the defence line of the Army stood their ground to halt the goal hungry Kasum Jaysuriya and E.B. Channa from finding their targets.

The battle continued with Army having most of the possession and Ratnam players baffled with the sort of play adopted by the soldiers. The 30th minute saw the Army get the much wanted goal from their star player Mohamed Issadeen.

Issadeen who was the star of the day moved up and down to work the ball with the support coming from the midfielders. He collected the fall that came from the left wing Asanka de Silva and made no mistake with his kick to find the correct target. With this goal he also became the second highest goal getter this season in Segment A.

Meanwhile the Kotahena boys had to struggle to go past the Armyâ€s defence line manned by S.R. Susil Pradeep, P.G.R.K. Premanayake and Y. Yakitha Jayatunga. Which the could not do in the first session of play. K.K. Piyankara the custodian of the Army team too made a fine contribution during this period making many good saves and Kasun Jayasuriya and E.B. Channa were rearly surprised by the saves. These two strikers too made few mistakes in front of the posts which too made their side go down during the first forty five minutes of play. Half time Army 1 / Ratnam 0.

The second session began with Ratnam SC bringing in former captain Rawmy Mohideen to replace Pradeep Perera.

His inclusion strengthened the Ratnam team to a certain extent. But the soldiers maintained their supremacy and were once again were well ahead with their quick passes and movements.

This became a big threat and the Ratnam SC and had to defend themselves rather than going on the attack.

Armyâ€s attackers were very fast and moved quickly with the ball to their opponentâ€s area.

The 56th minute was the luckiest for soliders when a cross from Asanka de Silva to Issadeen was booted into the net by Ratnam defender Dudley Steinwall to put the soldiers further ahead, 2-0.

Rawmy Mohideen the substitute for the Kotahena team played his best to put his side into contention. His moves were right on target for the strikers but they could not make good use of those to score.

The 86th minute saw Mohideen make a solo effort from the right wing and a bullet like shot found the net to reduce the lead 2-1. Soldiers held onto their lead until the final whistle to go away with a win to carry the Dialog Premier League Trophy.

Mohamed Issadeen the main striker for Army this season with a tally of 12 goals was awarded the trophy for the Most Valuable Player.

Kasun Jayasuriya Sri Lankaâ€s striker who won the ‘Golden Bootâ€. Award for two consecutive seasons with 10, and 11 goals made it three in a row when he had a total of 13 goals. He was awarded the ‘Golden Boot†award this year too.

Pelicans Sports Club received the ‘Fair Play†Trophy for their excellent behaviour on and off the field.

H.K.C. Dilan Perera while controlling the game had to pull out the warning card five times to 3 Army players and 2 Ratnam players.

The winner was awarded the Dialog Premier League Trophy and a cash prize of Rs. 500,000 while the runners up carried a purse worth Rs. 300,000.

Chief Marketing Officer Dialog Telekom Ltd Nushad Perera was the Chief Guest and gave away the main awards.


Source - Daily News
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