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Kathmandu Sunday March 03, 2002 Falgun 19, 2058.
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MPC
tossed into final
Post Report
POKHARA, March 2 : Even
the vociferous support from the partisan crowd failed to push the hosts Sahara Blue to the
Caravan Gold Cup Football final Saturday as they run out of luck against Mahendra Police
Club (MPC), losing on a toss of a coin.
The lady luck
eventually kissed the police outfit at the local Pokhara Stadium after a tense
energy-sapping semifinal when the referee Dilip Rajak’s coin took their side when
both the sides were tied at 8-8 after each side had 9 tries at the goal.
The teams failed to
break the 1-1 stalemate at the regulation time and added extra-time.
It was an unfortunate
end to Sahara Blue’s cup campaign after a promising start. They took the lead after
MPC’s Narottam Gautam failed to net the fourth shot of the tie-breaker. However, all
the excitement fizzled out when Sahara Blue player Dipendra Tamang ballooned his shot over
the crossbar. That led to a rare sudden-death penalty shoot-out but the standoff remained.
After an unproductive
first session, Sahara Blue took the lead when Nirajan Rayamajhi shot past the police
‘keeper. Raimajhi, receiving the ball just outside the penalty area, blasted it past
the opponent ‘keeper to take his team 1-0 up six minutes into the second half.
However, the lead did
not last for long as MPC striker Hari Khadka took it upon him to equal the score at 1-1
two minutes later. Khadka’s shot, which came in from left of the penalty area, was
initially punched off by Sahara goalie Upendra Man Singh. But his block only landed in
front of rushing Khadka, who had little difficulty pushing the rebound into the net to
score the all-important equaliser.
Sahara goalie Singh,
despite conceding the goal, was by far the best player for his team in the match. He,
rather than the other defenders, was the reason behind Sahara not allowing any goal
earlier on. On the other hand, MPC defenders looked strong and rarely let Sahara forwards
through.
Sahara Blue had entered
the semi-finals after a thumping 5-0 win against Blue Sports Club of Dehradun. Four of
those five goals were scored by Nirajan Raimajhi in the match. Raimajhi is the highest
scorer in the tournament so far.
MPC will lock horns
with Manang Marsyangdi for the title on Monday.
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