With a furious second half rally, the footballers from Java Lane stor med back from certain defeat at the hands of Air Force SC, to eke out a 2-2 draw in the opening match of the Dialog Champions League, at the City Football grou nds.
The scorers for Air Force were Imtiaz Raheem and S. Sanjeew while for Java Lane it was Nagur Meena and Mohamed Nawman.
Air Force will feel hard done for not taking home a win after dominating the match for a large stretch of time. They started dominating from the opening minutes of the game, frequently marauding into the Java Lane half and troubling goalie Mohamed Azwer.Air Force finally broke through in the 24th minute with an Imtiaz Raheem free kick that rocketed in to the net, leaving Azwer stranded in front of the goal.
Java Lane’s Mohamed Aleem fights for the ball against the Air Force’s. D. Welgamage.
Pic by Gemunu Wellage. |
The pressure continued through the half with Java Lane able to do little to stop the bombarding Airmen.
Java Lane’s frustration was compounded by their inability to finish off what were very good chances and they went into the half disappointed at being a goal down.
Their disappointment was to continue as with just three minutes into the second half Air Force struck again with a penalty. Sanjeew did the honours, calmly slotting the ball past the diving Azwer who guessed wrong.
It was from this point that Java Lane began to stage their comeback.
Perhaps it was the loud cheers of their large group of fans or because Air Force took their foot off the pedal, but whatever the reason, Java Lane suddenly injected new energy in to their play. They were quicker to balls and more enterprising with their play, constantly threatening to score.
Finally, in the 74th minute, Goal Keeper Azwer thumped the ball deep into the Air Force half, where it bounced awkwardly in front of his counterpart P.Paranawithana before being helped into the net by Nagur Meena.
With time running down it seemed unlikely that Java Lane would score, but with just a minute left before the game went into injury time, the unthinkable happened.
The ball was whipped into the Air Force box and bobbed about from player to player until Mohamed Nawman slashed the ball into the net, sending the anxious Java Laners into loud applause. |
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