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Kathmandu Thursday December 27, 2001 Paush 12, 2058.
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MPC end Friends’ Club challenge to reach final
By Purushottam
Kattel
DHARAN, Dec 26 –
Mahendra Police Club (MPC) entered the final of the 4th Budha Subba Cup invitational
football tournament following their 2-0 win over Friends’ Club here on Wednesday.
Both the teams, studded
with Nepali Internationals, played attacking football keeping the capacity crowd
entertained throughout. While the two sides exchanged numerous attacking moves, it was not
before they entered the last few seconds of the first half that it saw the first strike.
In the 40th minute, MPC veteran Dev Narayan Chaudhary, the champion header, showed his
class in the air to head home the ball for a1-0 lead. All the matches in the tournament
have been played with 80-minute regulation time.
Chaudhary, who played
brilliantly at the field, connected a fine header off Raju Pulami’s well measured
cross from the right. Friends’ Club goalie, Nepali International Upendra Man Singh
was left completely off guard by a surprise move by MPC striker Hari Khadka, leaving the
ball for Chaudhary to head into the left corner of the net.
Friends’ Club,
despite trailing by a goal, came up with more pressing moves into the MPC territory, which
kept the interest alive. The second half, however, saw MPC players find their rhythm
giving difficult time to Friend’s Club goalie Singh under the bars.
And the MPC’s
relentless pressure paid off when they earned a penalty in the 56th minute. As MPC striker
Khadka was running in with the ball into the 18-yard territory, Friends’ Club last
defense Shyam Shrestha, unfortunately touched the ball with his hand and referee Binod KC
did not hesitate to point at the spot. Khadka stepped up and pushed the ball to the right
corner while the Friends’ Club ‘keeper dived to the opposite side to doubled the
lead to 2-0, which stood as the final score.
In their desperate
attempt to come back into the game, Friends’ Club put everything into stake leaving
loopholes at the back. They were fortunate not to concede any more goals, though. Thanks
to brilliant goalkeeping by Singh who saved more than seven shots including three powerful
drives from Khadka.
Friend’s Club too
had glorious scoring chances of their own only to let them go begging. Nirajan Rayamajhi
missed an easy chance in the first session when he failed to put off a five-yard shot into
an empty net.
Likewise in the 37th
minute, Rajan Rayamajhi too had his share of bad luck when his shot, taken almost from
30-yard, bounced back off the crossbar. There were more frustrations for Friend’s
Club as their claim for a penalty was denied when MPC’s Kishore Subba brought down
Bal Gopal Maharjan inside the penalty area.
"Any one can say,
it’s an unfair decision which sealed our fate," fumed Friends’ Club coach
Navadip Singh. "Otherwise we as a good side succeeded to keep pressure on our strong
opponents."
On the other hand, his
counterpart Yugambar Suwal of MPC looked convinced with a new format
he employed in the tournament. "I’ve used the 3-5-2 format in
this tournament and its working fine."
"Without two of
our ace players Narottam Gautam and Ananta Thapa, the team played a good football and I
hope they will continue their form in the final too."
Dev Narayan Chaudhary,
scorer of MPC’s first goal, was declared man of the match. In the second semi-final,
United Kurseong FC Darjeeling, the lone visiting team competing in the tournament, will
take on the local Dharan-11 (Red) on Thursday.
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