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Kathmandu Friday February 15, 2002 Falgun 03, 2058.
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Poor defence costs Army dear
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Feb 14 - An own goal from Royal Nepal
Army’s Tribhuvan Club defender Chun Bahadur Thapa in the extra time let New Road Team
(NRT) through to the quarterfinals of the King’s Cup knockout football tournament
with a 2-1 win on Thursday.
The match went into sudden death extra time as
neither side could break the 1-1 deadlock in the regulation 90 minutes. Tribhuvan Club dug
their own graveyard when Thapa miscued the shot into his own net while trying to clear a
Ramesh Sinkaman shot taken on Amir Dangol’s pass.
The victory will put NRT against visiting Sikkim
XI in the quarterfinal on Sunday.
Earlier, the Army team, starting promisingly,
took the lead through Biswo Samal. As NRT keeper Prakash Vaidya failed to gather a cross
of Tulsi Chaudhary cleanly and Samal, who was perfectly placed inside the six-yard box,
did not let the opportunity go without reward as he headed home for a 1-0 advantage.
NRT looked a much-improved side in the second
half and maintained pressure on the opposition. And that quickly paid rich reward 10
minutes into the session. Bimal Karki, making use of a perfectly taken flag kick from
Naresh Darshandhari, effected a thumping header that beat the Army goalkeeper
comprehensively to level the score at 1-1.
The Army outfit would have been trailing five
minutes later but referee Gyani Raja Shrestha disallowed a goal as he spotted Karki
pushing an opposition player before taking his shot.
Amid the seesaw battle, NRT had half a dozen
glorious chances but failed to capitalise any. They could not have asked for more from the
opposition to do their job as Thapa wrote the Army’s downfall with his suicidal move.
Earlier, minnows Kathmandu Club came from behind
to demolish Boys Union 6-1 with Rajkumar Shrestha hogging the limelight with a hattrick.
Boys’ Union showed control in the first
quarter along with a goal from Shiva Tandukar in the 16th minute. But as they failed to
sustain the tempo, Kathmanduites bounced back to score freely.
In the 33rd minute, Krishna Malakar scored the
equaliser and Shrestha’s first saw them go into 2-1 in the 43rd minute.
Kathmandu Club, taking complete charge of the
match, added four more in the second half. Shrestha doubled his personal tally in the 58th
minute and completed his hattrick a minute from time to lead the side to a convincing 6-1
win. The fourth and fifth Kathmandu Club goals were scored by Rajkumar Ghising and Narayan
Manandhar.
Friday’s Match: ANFA
Academy Vs Sankata Boys’ Sports Club (12:30 PM), Mahendra Police Club (MPC) Vs Naxal
Yuba Mandal (2:00 PM) |
