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Kathmandu,Monday January 10, 2000 Paush 26th, 2056.
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Tribhuvan Club swamp
Jhapa Eleven 4-1
-By a Post
Reporter
BIRATNAGAR,
Jan 9 - Royal Nepal Army’s Tribhuvan Club scored a comfortable 4-1 victory
over Jhapa Eleven Sunday to march into the semi-finals of the Mahendra Gold Cup football
tournament.
The quarterfinal
match failed to instil much interest as the Army players, who seemed to have hold all the
cards enjoyed a clear domination.
Jhapa, after
defying several early raids from Tribhuvan Club were let down by a silly error by their
own defender. In the 11th minute, Jhapa’s Purna Subba touched the ball deliberately
inside the restricted territory to prevent Basanta Gurung’s shot from crossing the
goal-line.
The referee not
only allowed a penalty to Tribhuvan Club but also gave Subba his marching orders. Jhapa
goalkeeper Rupak Gurung, making a good anticipation stopped the spot-kick taken by Basanta
Gurung, but Prakash Thapa Magar crashed the ball home on return for a 1-0 lead.
Rupak Gurung put
in a brilliant goalkeeping in the match, frustrating the rival players with stunning
saves. But his individual effort was just not good enough to safeguard the team from
incessant Army raids.
Before Jhapa
could reassemble themselves, Suk Bahadur Gurung added one more three minutes later when he
was put through by Adarsh Malla to make it 2-0.
The ten-man Jhapa
showed a fighting spirit with Parbat Pandey, Bijaya Subba, Kumar Subba, Lhakpa Lama coming
up with occasional runs down the Army half. But before they could cause any harm,
Tribhuvan Club’s Suk Gurung netted his second on Basanta Gurung’s cross in the
29th minute to go into half-time with a 3-0 cushion.
Gurung, who
played superbly throughout the ninety minutes was later adjudged man of the match. Besides
scoring goals, he also demonstrated his selflessness, setting up number of clear passes to
his fellow forwards.
Midway through
the second session, several openings came on Jhapa’s way as Tribhuvan Club took quite
casual approach. But Parbat Pandey, Bijaya Subba, Lhakpa Lama, despite having gapping goal
in front of them, threw away their chances in haste.
They found a
consolation goal when Lhakpa Lama, capitalising on a rare Army defensive lapse found the
net after being put in clear with a perfect pass from Parbat Pandey in the 84th minute.
But that was not
before they conceded the fourth goal. While most of the Jhapa players were pushing
forward, Basanta Gurung tapping the ball in the mid-field beat the keeper on the run to
put Tribhuvan Club into the last four.
The third
semi-final will be played between Mahendra Police Club and George Telegraph Team from
Calcutta. RCT had already qualified for the last four, following a 3-2 win over Darjeeling
in the drama-packed quarterfinal Saturday. |
