Royal take charge of the Hayman Trophy in spite of loss
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An attempt by Royal being thwarted by the Thomian goalie - Pic by Priyantha Wickramaarachchi
In spite of losing the second leg at 7-8, Royal managed to take charge of the of the 27th Dr. R.L. Hayman Trophy at 16-15, making them the proud custodians of the glittering Trophy after a lapse of seven years at the Sugathadasa Swimming Complex yesterday.
Royal won the first leg 9-7 but were off colour in the return game yesterday going down in spite of close exchanges. Royal went into the lead early and went to add two more goals but the Thomians were never ready to surrender scoring two goals and the scoreboard read 3-2 in favour of Royal at the end of the 1st quarter.
Thomians well organised came into the second quarter and added two more goals to their tally ending the second quarter to lead 2-1. The Thomians led the third quarter 3-1. The final quarter saw the Reid Avenue lads shoot into the lead 2-1 but by the final whistle blew while the Thomains still led 8-7.
Last year Thomians won the trophy 9-7.
Both schools missed many chances of scoring due to erratic shooting. But the Thomians organised themselves and played a well calculated game. On the other hand Royal paid dearly for delaying their shooting in front of the goal.
The tally of victories stand Royal 8 and Thomians 16 with three drawn games. In the junior game the young Thomians scored a huge 18-4 victory over in Under–15 encounter. Thomians led in all four quarters of the 4-0, 5-1, 7-1 and held for 2-2 in the last quarter.