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Kathmandu, Sunday, December 12, 1999 Marga 26th, 2056.
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MPC lift Budha Subba Cup
By Harsha Subba
DHARAN, Dec 11 - Mahendra Police Club (MPC)
maintained their winning streak as they clinched the Budha Subba Gold Cup with a 1-0 win
over Dharan Blue in front of the crowded local Dharan stadium here Saturday.
Apart from the running Cup, MPC also received
the winner’s cheque of Rs10,000, while Dharan Blue had to settle for runners-up
shield and Rs7,000.
The Dharan Blue’s supporters suffered a
huge setback from the mistake which they dreaded most, allowing enough room to the MPC
marksmen.
In the 13th minute, Raju Pulami cut couple of
Dharan defenders on the right and his well supplied cross found the unattended Hari Khadka
inside the penalty box, who wasted no time to put MPC 1-0 ahead. Khadka was later declared
best player of the tournament.
Although, MPC held much of the first
session’s play, keeping the opposition busy in their own territory, Dharan Blue
managed to keep the excitement alive in the match with several breathtaking moves.
They had a glorious opportunity to level the
score in the 20th minute when the skipper, Milan Shrestha who was well placed inside the
box with a clear goal in front, but he disappointed everyone in the stadium by skying his
shot well over the crossbar.
Unlike the first session, when the ball
remained in and around the Dharan defensive line for most of the times, the police outfit
was seen taking a little bit of back sit after the half time. And Dharan Blue, playing by
far their best football in the tournament dominated the match before five minutes to the
end. Improvising on their coordination, Bal Gopal Maharjan, Naresh Joshi, Shyam Manandhar,
Ananta Thapa all looked a perfectly orchestrated unit in the final.
But owing to some gritty defense from MPC,
coupled with poor finishing saw their valiant attempts end prematurely. And nobody seemed
to have an answer to Dharan Blue’s failure. Raju Shakya too shared the similar
thought that Dharan should have been better off had they played the game with a touch of
defensive approach early on.
"Had Dharan avoided that goal, they would
have a reasonable chance in a tie-breaker," he commented later.
In the last five minutes, MPC switching onto
the overdrive pounced upon the Dharan Blue’s territory, thus ruling out any chance of
the latter to crawling back into the match. During that time, MPC also went for a
surprising change when they called out Dev Narayan Chaudhary. The MPC coach might have
thought Chaudhary was tired but the move raised many an eye-brow.
The president of the All Nepal Football
Association (ANFA), Ganesh Thapa gave away prizes and cash awards to the winners,
runners-up and outstanding players at a prize distribution function held after the match.
Dharan supporters had something to cheer about
as Shyam Manandhar was declared the man of the final while Bal Gopal Maharjan, who scored
three goals in the tournament walked away with the highest scorer award.
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