A second half goal from Barshat Gurung helped Sankata Club defeat Morang XI 1-0 in the Anfa Cup football tournament here at the Dashrath Stadium on Friday.
A second half goal from Barshat Gurung helped Sankata Club defeat Morang XI 1-0 in the Anfa Cup football tournament here at the Dashrath Stadium on Friday.
The victory set Sankata a semi-final date with Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) on Monday. TAC eliminated departmental arch-rivals Nepal Police Club 2-0 on Thursday. Gurung tapped in a pass from Suraj Thing beyond the reach of diving Morang goalie Kishor Giri in the 51st minute. Thing headed on the path of Gurung who had a simple task of tapping in from close range. Sankata came close to adding the second goal seven minutes later only for Morang glovesman to deny a powerful Norbert Cerdic header. Giri made yet another save three minutes after resumption foiling another powerful header from Elvis Appiah.
Earlier in the first half Morang XI tested the Sankata defence a couple of times. Biswash Shrestha pierced through the two Sankata defenders but should have done better than shooting straight at the goalkeeper Raju Yogi in the 10th minute. Shrestha wasted yet another scoring opportunity five minutes later as his volley went out without troubling the Sankata keeper Yogi. Yogi then blocked Shrestha’s attempt in the 73rd minute.
Sankata also had their scoring chances in the first half notably when Jaggunath Khadka could only find side netting in the 12th minute, while Cerdic’s shot from edge of the area was punched out by Morang glovesman Giri in the 14th minute.
Despite the victory Sankata coach Bijay Maharjan said that his team was much better than how they performed on Friday. “I am happy to have won the game and a place in the semi-finals but I believe that my boys did not play to their potential today,” said Maharjan. “We failed to gel as a team but that could possibly be due to rustiness associated with the first game of season.”
Maharjan’s Morang XI counterpart Raju Thapa blamed his team’s under-par showing to fatigue after a long travel from Morang. “We arrive here only on Thursday and had little time to settle in before taking to the field,” said Thapa who also rued on the missed chances. “We had a few scoring chances early on but could not capitalise on them. After the break, we were simply not able to reproduce the spark we had in the first half,” added the Morang coach.
The first semi-final match is scheduled for Sunday between Jhapa XI and Nepal APF Club.
24.61°C Kathmandu
