Ghising, a former Jawalakhel player, headed the decider in the 63rd minute after scoring the equalizer in the first minute of injury time before the interval. Earlier, Bishal Rai B (No 9) had put Jawalakhel, the Tilottama Gold Cup winners, ahead in the 12th minute.[break]
The final to be held on Saturday will be a rematch of last year´s final, which MMC had lost 2-0.
The match saw a total of nine yellow cards, including six for Three Star and three for Jawalakhel, and referee decision was once again dragged into controversy. Three Star player Anil Ojha punched Jawalakhel´s Laxmi Nath Shrestha in the 42nd minute after he became a victim of Shrestha´s bad tackle.
The players of both sides got involved in a brawl following the incident. However, referee Sudish Pandey quickly took control of the situation, and showed yellow cards to both Ojha and Rai for their offense.
Three Star midfielder Ranjit Shrestha, who was shown a yellow card in the 14th minute, will miss the final as it was his second booking in the knockout stage.
Jawalakhel coach Rajaram Karki blamed the referee´s weak decision for his side´s defeat. "The boys came under pressure after the referee failed to take a strong decision on the manhandling of their teammates and could not continue their tune in the other half."
KC also claimed that Three Star players had pushed the referee in the 38th minute protesting his decision to show a yellow card to Buddha Chemjong. But the referee did not take any action against them. He also suggested to the referee to improve his decision-making ability.
As said by their coach KC, Jawalakhel had come up with a well-coordinated show and had put the defending champions under pressure during the first half. But they lost their rhythm in the second half and on many occasions they were busy resisting the opponents´ pressure. They made some attractive attempts during the dying moments of the match but heroic saves by custodian Kiran Chemjong denied them twice from scoring.
Three Star players celebrate goal. (Photo: Dipesh Shrestha)
Three Star coach Meghraj KC said that his side proved that his team still was a strong side. "After securing a final berth in the tournament we proved that Three Star´s performance is not going down," a delighted KC said, adding that the win was a result of the collective effort of players, coaches and officials.
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