De Mazenod College drowned Hindu College, Colombo in a sea of goals to kick start their Division II campaign with a 15-0 win, with Pramuditha Gunasekara scoring seven, at the match held at Kandana De Mazenod Grounds.
Both teams, subjected to the surprise 11 team relegation from Division I earlier this month, started off the match in a slightly wet ground due to the rain that prevailed earlier.
De Mazenod College quickly attained control over the game, putting the Hinduite defenders and goalkeeper into trouble by firing shots on goal at will, providing a solid case to say that they did not deserve the demotion from Division I.
It was Pramuditha Gunasekara who put in the first goal for his team with a well-timed header from a cross in the 10th minute.
Amesh Thiyanga, Brian Chiran and Dushan Fonseka followed the lead as they also put their names on the scorecard in the 13th, 16th and 37th minutes respectively.
Dushan’s goal was quite a delight to see as he cut across S. Kishanth, kicked the ball with his left foot and the ball swerved all the way across the goal to sink into the right corner as keeper Anushan Raj stood mesmerized.
M.A. Amry received the sole yellow card of the match in the 14th minute for a tackle from behind on Pramuditha.
Anushan pulled up a couple of saves that limited the score line but was unable stop Pramuditha as he scored two more in the 17th and 40th minutes.
Half time – De Mazenod College 6 – 0 Hindu College
De Mazenod came into the second half with a tactical change of bringing up skipper Ranju Silva forward to build up the infamous Pramuditha-Ranju partnership. Needless to say this move made life miserable for Anushan and his defenders.
Ranju came up right off the mark scoring with a pin-point header from a cross by Brian which got the home crowd to its feet.
Ranju and Pramuditha made no mistake in attack as the duo toyed around defenders and scored 11 goals between them.
The visiting attackers could not build up a single play to trouble the home keeper and Romesh Chathuranga spent the whole 80 minutes watching the match like a spectator.
Amesh put in his second goal in the 68th minute with a neat tap in past the helpless goalkeeper.
Hindu College will be facing Nalanda College next and this match is a must win for them if they plan on qualifying for the next round.
Full time – De Mazenod College 15 – 0 Hindu College
ThePapare.com Player of the Match – Pramuditha Gunasekara
Player of the Match, Pramuditha Gunasekara shared his thoughts with ThePapare.com;
“When we start the match we had no plan of scoring a lot of goals. When I scored the first goal my team was very happy and they also got the courage to start scoring more goals. In the second half I was able to pair up with my best partner Ranju Silva. Both of us scored 8 goals together in the second half. It was a memorable match for me because my team scored 15 goals and I contributed 7 of them.”
Goal Scorers
De Mazenod College – Pramuditha Gunasekara 10’, 17’, 40’, 51’, 57’, 59’, 75’, Amesh Thiyanga 13’, 68’, Brian Chiran 16’, Dushan Fonseka 37’, Ranju Silva 45’, 55’, 67’, 77’
Bookings
Yellow cards – M.A.Amry (Hindu College) 14’
