Java Lane defeated the mighty Colombo Football Club (CFC) by 5 goals to 3 after a penalty shootout to retain the ‘Expolanka Youth Cup’ in front of a capacity crowd in their inter club under-19 soccer encounter played at City Football League grounds yesterday.
Underdogs Java Lane put up a belligerent performance amidst their home crowd, dominating play in all departments, and held their nerve to force a 1-all draw at the full time whistle, which subsequently moved to a penalty shootout to decide the winner.
Colombo FC was not up to their usual standard from the inception of the game, as Java Lane dominated play from the start and occupied their rival’s territory for most part of the game, making some teasing moves. The rival custodian had a torrid time as he was tested time and again as the Java Lane lads sneaked through the defenses.
A sudden defensive lapse saw the Colombo FC strikers breaking the deadlock, when Lafran Mohamed Lafar booted a left footed kick from the right flank to deceive the rival goalie. This made the game much more competitive as the Colombo FC lads tried hard to increase their lead, while the winners fought hard to score the much needed equaliser.
Overall, Colombo FC gave a dismal performance in the all important final when compared to their previous games, which led to their downfall. Referee Tharanga Pushpakumara had quite a busy day on the field to calm down the players from both sides, and showed a red card to M.I.M. Khaliq of Colombo FC for punching a rival player, while showing two more yellow cards to players from both sides.
Java Lane’s Manoharan Jathusan was finally successful in preventing them from certain defeat when he chipped in with a kick in front of the post to equalize, which the rival goalie had no way of preventing, which made the scoreline 1-all.
This took the game to a penalty tie breaker to decide the winner.
Nadeem Ahamed, Imdadullah, Asadullah Hassan, Donald Derick and Keshihan Rajasekera’s kicks were on target for Java Lane, while Samunu Tharin, Nikshan Anthony and M.I.M. Ihlas scored for the losers. Manoharan Jethusan of Java Lane was awarded the Golden Ball while Theshan Thushmika of Colombo Veterans carried away the Golden Boot award for scoring six goals.
