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Kathmandu Thursday August 02, 2001 Shrawan 18, 2058.
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Central Region beat police, set up clash
with army in semis
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Aug 1 - An early Kailash Dangol goal guided
Central Region to a 1-0 win over Mahendra Police Club (MPC) in the last preliminary match
held at Dashrath Stadium Wednesday. Central Region, with two wins from as many matches,
topped the Group B to setup a semifinal class with Tribhuvan Club (TC).
The match produced some grueling battle in the middle as
midfielders from both the sides dictated the pace of the game throughout.
MPC was quick to launch a thrustful looking raid into the
Central Region territory but ended up in receiving end. MPC skipper and central defender,
Anil Adhikari, while trying to gain control over the ball with his chest, failed to land
close enough and Dangol gave Central Region the decisive lead just three minutes from the
start. His thunderous right footer from 20-yard sailed into goal, leaving MPC ‘keeper
Sanjeev Joshi any time to react.
The match could not have more tense as a player from either
side, Raju Pulami (MPC) and Naresh Shrestha (Central Region) were cautioned during the
first session.
MPC midfielders who have crushed both the previous
oppositions coming into this match were roped in by some tight marking from Central Region
defenders. Even Dev Narayan Chaudhary, who returned from Bangladesh league to join the
police outfit failed to impress. While he was kept under check by Central Region players,
the lone through ball he released for the striker Sol Bahadur Karki went without
translation as he put it straight into the hands of the ‘keeper, Narayan Manandhar.
At the other end, Ayita Singh Tamang squandered an
opportunity to double the Central Region lead in the 39th minute, shooting wide of the
target.
MPC, as expected, looked revived outfit coming into the
second session even as the Inspector General of Police, Pradip Shamsher Rana joined in the
audience. But all that failed to make any difference as Central Region brilliantly held
their slender lead. They went close to scoring on several occasions only to spurned them.
Second half substitute Parbat Pandey wasted a clear chance, hitting the crossbar in the
59th minute while Karki and Ananta Thapa failed to convert in 61st and 23rd minutes
respectively.
Central Region, on the other hand, who were limited to
counterattacks had a couple of goalscoring chances to fortify their position but Naresh
Shrestha put paid to them on both occasions. In the 64th minute, he muffed from close on
Tamang’s pass and his poor finishing was confirmed when he repeated the same error a
minute later, throwing away the chance with a hasty shot despite having a clear ball
infront of him.
Earlier, spurred on by Ritesh Khadka’s hattrick,
Mid-western Region beat Far-western Region by a tennis-like score of 6-1. Khadka scored in
the 9th, 32nd (penalty) and 90th minutes while Prahlad DC found the net twice in the 11th
and 64th minutes and Bhakta Rana scored the team’s second goal in the 12th minute of
the match.
Lokendra Chand denied Mid-western the clean sheet, scoring
the lone goal which came in the 40th minute.
Today’s semifinals
Eastern Region vs MPC (1:00pm)
Central Region vs TC (4:00pm)
Other Story
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