HNB “A” win by the skin of their teeth

HNB “A”beat Sampath Bank by the skin of their teeth to retain the Mercantile Hockey Association “A” Division Knockout title, at the Astroturf in Colombo.

HNB and Sampath Bank,studded with several ex-sri Lanka players, displayed a fantastic game of hockey and gave spectators their money’s worth. Sampath Bank opened the scoring in the 12th minute of the game through ex-sri Lanka Under 21 player Buwenaka Parahitiyawa.at half time Sampath Bank led 1-0.

In the second half both teams played aggressively resulting in frequent changes to the score.the pendulum swung both ways.

HNB surged into the lead when forward Damith Bandara equalized through a penalty stroke and Upul Dhanushka scored the go-ahead goal.

Sampath Bank bounced back to equalize through a field goal scored from Chinthaka Dilshan.

Bandara pierced the strong Sampath Bank defence, displaying some excellent stick work, to give HNB the lead once again.

However two quick goals scored by Sampath Bank Forward Diluka Weerasuriya changed the result in favour of Sampath Bank.

HNB wiped out the lead when R. Wickremasinghe scored in the dying seconds of the match, with the game ending 4-4 at the end of regulation play.

In a dramatic turnaround of penalty strokes which followed HNB “A” beat Sampath Bank 7 -6.

In the “B” Division Final, HSBC stunned Hayleys Group with a brilliant 3-2 win.

Commercial Bank“a” trounced Allianz Insurance 6-1 to secure third place in the “A” division, while Seylan Bank beat Commercial Bank‘b’ to finish third in the “B” division.