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Kathmandu,Sunday January 02, 2000 Paush 18th, 2056.
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NRT, Sikkim make it to last eight
- By a Post Reporter
KATHMANDU, Jan 1
- NRT continued their winning run in the on going King’s Birthday Cup football
tournament with a 4-0 dubbing of Boys Sports Club in the pre-quarterfinals here Saturday.
In the day’s
other match, Sikkim ended the challenge of Western Region 2-0 to make their room in the
last eight.
NRT, aided with
comparatively good players for each position, held their domination over Boys Sports
Club throughout the ninety minutes. And Binod Rai, striking good combination with the
mid-fielders scored the second hat-trick of the tournament.
NRT were so
dominant in the match that Boys Sports had only one real shot at the goal in the entire
match. But that chance in the 75th minute was wasted by Suresh Manandhar as his shot did
not have enough power to avoid NRT keeper's vigilance.
Rai amended the
early misses from Pravesh Katuwal and Shyam Mali to give NRT a 1-0 lead in the 29th minute
of the match. Tapping a pass from Katuwal, he glided the ball home from underneath the
onsurging Boys Sports keeper.
He enjoyed the
great support he was receiving from the mid-fielders, especially Diken Suwal and Pravesh
Katuwal and exploited the Boys Sports’ weaknesses to the full. Five minutes into the
second half, Rai, after put through by Diken Suwal, moved past a defender and unleashed a
low shot from just inside the penalty to net his team’s second goal. And in the 80th
minute, Hari Thakuri, after collecting Katuwal’s cross from the aright, allowed Rai
to go for his hat-trick which he accepted with a delight.
Earlier, with
Boys Sports in their desperate attempt to stop NRT raids started to resort on rough
tackles and in the pursuit, Keshav Ranjit brought down Chandra Gurung just outside the
18-yard box in the 54th minute. Diken Suwal beat both the defence wall and keeper to give
NRT an unassailable 3-0 lead through the resultant free-kick.
Ram Dangol of
Boys Sports received the marching orders, after he collected second yellow card towards
the close.
In the other
exciting match, Boys Club of Sikkim demonstrating better ball control and authoritative
midfield play, applied early pressure on Western Region and scored both of their goals in
the opening session.
They took the
lead in the 17th minute when Nima Bhutia easily beat Western Region keeper with a header
off Sumeen Dewan’s perfect cross.
Western Region,
who played so outstandingly against Darjeeling side the other day could only come up with
few sporadic attacks. Their poor ball control in the middle only made the
opposition’s task more easy, forcing them to the back-foot.
In the 26th
minute, Sikkim’s Sumeen Dewan’s nice chip shot missed the target by a whisker,
but they did not have to wait too long to move 2-0 up. Kamal Bagdas, dispossessing the
ball in the Western Region territory, found Milan Lepcha with his right cross and Lepcha
easily sent the ball into the back.
The game gained
more pace in the second session as both sides involved into quick exchanges of
attacks. Western Region, unlike their poor display in the opening session came up with
thrustful raids on Sikkim territory. They even went close to scoring but some poor
finishing and brilliant goalkeeping from Bimal Begdas did not allow them to stage their
comeback in the match.
Today’s
quarterfinal
RCT vs Sankata (2:30pm)
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