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Kathmandu Saturday January 19, 2002 Magh 06, 2058.
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Friends’ Club end Belgaria tour with 3-0 win
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Jan 18 : Friends’ Club entered the semifinals of the Birendra
Memorial Invitational football tournament with a 3-0 win over visiting Belgaria Sporting
Club of Kolkata, India on Friday.
Friends’ Club, following the win set up clash with archrival Manang
Marsyangdi Club (MMC).
The match, which pulled the largest number of spectators so far in the
tournament began with a bang with both the outfits orchestrating enterprising moves.
Friends’ Club had a close look at the Belgaria goal as early as in the
2nd minute. But striker Nirajan Rayamajhi failed to put enough power to his header in a
Chandra Tamang cross and the ball went straight into the hands of Belgaria goalkeeper P
Ghosh.
Belgaria produced their most convincing move in the 3rd minute but they
failed to exploit the opportunity. SK Chakraborty, seeing Friends’ Club custodian
Upendra Man Singh well in front
of his ground, almost put his powerful shot into the net only to be cleared back by
defender Raj Kumar KC. His clearance found another Belgaria attacker A Rafiq. But
goalkeeper Singh, who had recovered his ground, was equal to the task as he saved
Rafiq’s pile driver.
Although both the sides often came up with breathtaking moves, defenders at
either ends stood firm to keep a clean chit going into the half-time break.
The change of the ends saw Friends’ Club put in lot of pressure on the
visitors, to the delight of the partisan crowd.
Rayamajhi, leading the tournament’s goalscoring table with seven goals,
added one more to his tally three minutes into the second half. Sukra Tamang, operating
from the right flank, dropped a perfect cross into the opposition box and Rayamajhi rolled
his right-footer over the line for a 1-0 lead, leaving goalie Ghosh standstill.
Belgaria, who played at level terms until the first session, looked
completely out of sorts and
were continually forced to their toes by aggressive Friends’ Club moves.
In the 63rd minute, Friends’ Club doubled the lead at 2-0 through Sukra
Tamang. Bal Gopal Maharjan failed to reach Kailash Dangol’s right cross but Tamang,
who was rushing towards the opposition goal, connected the ball and put it into the back
of the net on the run.
It was virtually a one-horse race thereafter as Friends’ Club dominated
Belgaria and added their third goal in the 75th minute. Jibesh Pandey, who replaced Shree
Ram Shrestha in the 67th minute, found the net with a long-range effort that beat Belgaria
keeper to increase the lead to 3-0.
It could have been more authentic win for Friends’ Club had it not been
for Ghosh’s brilliant exhibition under the bar. Bringing up several breathtaking
saves, he denied Rayamajhi in the 70th and 73rd minutes. While the post came to their
rescue as Bal Gopal Maharjan was denied a goal when he hit the cross bar in 72nd minute
and Gosh grabbed the ball on rebound.
While there was a celebration in the Friends’ Club camp, the visiting
team’s coach S Mukharji was furious. More than the team’s loss, his anger was
directed towards poor management on the part of organisers.
"Is this the way how you organise a tournament?" burst Belgaria
coach Mukharji, who arrived with the team in the capital only on Thursday night. "We
didn’t know that we have to play the match till nine this morning," he lamented.
"And understandably we could not adjust ourselves to the conditions here. They should
at least provide us a day for practice and rest."
Saturday’s SF 2:00 PM Mahendra Police Club (MPC) Vs Galaxian Club
Other Story
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