Khem Gurung hit the bar in the penalty shootout to send Kaski out. The match was pushed to the tiebreaker after regulation play had ended in 2-2 stalemate. TAC had twice come from behind to level the score.  Rajesh and Uttam Gurung scored a piece for Kaski while Amrit scored both the goals for TAC.

Kaski took a shock lead one minute after the break when Rajesh hammered home a pass from Shiva Subedi. But Basnet scored an equaliser in the 53rd minute. Kaski went ahead once again after Uttam converted a 30-yard freekick into a goal.

The relentless Army club kept on searching for goal and were duly rewarded when Basnet added his goal in the first minute of injury time. Due to adverse weather, the referee, with the consent of both the teams, scrapped the extra time and directly headed for tie-breaker.

Army coach Megh Raj KC was not happy with his team’s performance. “We were well below par,” said the coach. His Kaski XI counterpart Rajendra Tamang, however, was happy with his boys’ spirited display despite the defeat.

“We put on a very good show against a formidable opponent. To do that with just seven day’s training was unbelievable,” said Tamang. He was also unhappy that the match had not followed the international practice of playing extra time after regulation play had ended in a draw.