Supersub Bijay Gurung scored a goal and set up another as national champion Three Star registered a hard-fought 2-1 win over 10-man Armed Police Force (APF) to finish on top of the group with a perfect record. Meanwhile, APF crashed out from the first round finishing third in the group with three points. APF needed a win against Three Star to secure berth in the quarterfinals. [break]
In the day’s first match, Suman Lama scored a hat-trick as RCT crushed Deshbhakta Youth Club, the B division district champion, 5-0. The result lifted RCT to second place with six points, three points behind group winner Three Star. Deshbhakta crashed out finishing bottom without any point in its kitty.
Bijay Gurung, the 76th minute replacement for Prakash Budathoki, cancelled APF’s early lead four minutes after his entry. Gurung headed the equalizer from the right side of the danger zone in a freekick taken by skipper Santosh Sahukhala from the penalty box. Referee Shrawan Lama awarded the freeekick inside the danger zone after APF custodian Amrit Kumar Chaudhary deliberately dropped the ball, let it roll in the area for a moment and again used his hands as Three Star played chased the ball.
APF coach Janak Singh Tharu, meanwhile, termed the referee’s decision to award the freekick as incorrect. “We became victims of the referee’s wrong decision,” Tharu said during the post-match conference. “Had the freekick not been awarded we could have qualified for the quarterfinals.”
Earlier, APF had taken a 10th minute lead through Ganesh Lawati who scored with a superb volley from the penalty spot in Top Bahadur Bista’s pass to stun Three Star. But APF was reduced to 10 men two minutes into the second half after Bhim Bahadur Shrestha was flashed a second yellow card for a bad tackle on Leonce Dodoz.
Dodoz scored the winning goal for Three Star six minutes before time directing the ball into the net with a one-touch strike from the area when Gurung’s shot was heading away from the goal.
Three Star skipper Sahukhala wasted three scoring chances firing wide on each occasion. In the 71st minute, Budhathoki of Three Star headed a goal-bound cross from teammate Jagjeet Shrestha to safety from just below the bar.
“The midfield could not play well before the interval and we came up with a different strategy in the second half which worked,” Three Star coach Pradip Humagain said, adding that his side got advantage after the opponent player was sent off.
Earlier, RCT struggled until the injury time of the first half to break the deadlock but scored four goals after the regular to seal a comprehensive 5-0 win over Deshbhakta. Suman Lama broke the deadlock in the second minute of first-half injury time, netted his second in the 65th minute and achieved a hat-trick three minutes later. Roshan Lamichhane made it 4-0 in the 77th and Pradip Malla added a fifth in the 84th.
Despite the huge win, RCT coach Madhu Karki was not satisfied with the performance of his side. “It was the worst among the three matches we have played in the tournament,” Karki said. “We had
set a target of scoring five or six goals in the first half. There were no good passes and the midfield was not organized.”
Deshbhakta coach Jeet Bahadur Pun said that his side did not got enough time to prepare for the tournament.
Today’s matches
Sankata Vs Tusal @ 14:00
MMC Vs Army @ 16:00
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