Northern Province had a hard fought 1-0 victory over Eastern Province in their Independence Trophy Provincial League semi-final first leg played at the Duraiappah Stadium in Jaffna yesterday.
After the first session ended with both sides firing blanks, K. Thenushan scored a brilliant solo goal to maintain Northern’s unbeaten run.
Northern are scheduled to play their away game on March 2 in Ampara in the semi-final second leg.
The more fancied Northerners came to the field as favourites as they were playing at home. However, the first half saw Easterners attacking for almost 20 minutes but were kept at bay by the Northern custodian and the defence line who were at their best.
Sensing the dangers ahead of them, the home team changed their pattern of play to go on the offensive.
Both goalkeepers played their part to thwart scoring opportunities by strikers of both teams and the teams returned for ‘lemons’ with a blank score sheet 0-0. During the first session of play, Easterners had to substitute two senior players Rifkan Mohamed and RM Inushan due to injuries which also hampered their attacking style forcing them on the defensive.
The second session began with both sides looking to break the stalemate providing an interesting spectacle as both teams were trying their best to penetrate the opposition defence with the hope of finding the much needed goal.
The 21 year-old midfielder Thenushan who collected a good pass from the right winger before making a solo run to beat Eastern’s custodian to put his side in front and also give home fans to savour victory on their home turf.
Soon after Thenushan’s strike, Eastern made a valiant attempt to find the equalizer. They made inroads into their opponent’s territory and struck a few good shots at the goal. However, all these attempts were thwarted by the lanky custodian Amalraj.
Tharanga Pushpakumara controlled the game assisted by Sampath Gunawardena and Mohamed Ashad.