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Andriesz Shield Hockey
Old Royalists dribble past Old Anandians
By M. Shamil Amit
Old Royalist drubbed the hapless Old Anandians by 7 goals to nil in the first match of the Andriesz Shield hockey encounter at the Astro Turf yesterday. The Old Royalists were too good for their opponents as they outclassed them in all the departments of the gamey. The winners led 3-nil at the breather.

It was the fine stick work of centre half H. Wickramasinghe who led the Old Royalists attack and was in fine form netting 3 of the goals and was supported by right half S.H.M. Fahad who scored 2 goals and the other two were netted by the left and right extremes Sandun Gajanayake and P. Sumanaratne.

It was their left extreme Sumanaratne who opened the scoring in the seventh minute of play when he dribbled pass three Old Anandian defenders to beat the goalie. They increased the lead 20 minutes later with a rebound goal from Sumanaratne and three minutes later Wickramasinghe made no mistake with a penalty stroke offered due to dangerous play when he beat the goalie neck and crop to give the Old Royalists a 3 nil lead which remained the score at half time.

Resuming in the second half the Old Royalists went into the attack and remained pinned on their opponents' territory and in the sixth minute was offered a penalty corner. Wickramasinghe again made no mistake with a stunning shot which gave the goalie little chance of saving. Right half Fahad put the issue beyond doubt with another penalty corner goal.

The Old Anandians, though penetrating their opponents' territory, found little success as the players were not in the correct position to make a finish. They made valiant efforts but did not have quality of players like their opponents. Two more goals in the dying stages by Wickramasinghe and Fahad put the last nail in the coffin for the Old Anandians. The match was controlled by Dhammika Abeyratne and I. Samaranayake.

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