Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) crushed local side Birgunj United 3-0 to enter the semi-finals of the eighth Simara Gold Cup here at the Simara Stadium in Bara on Tuesday. 

Bal Krishna Shrestha, Santosh Tamang and Deepak Gurung scored one goal each in Army team’s convincing victory that put the departmental team into the last four. TAC will play Himalayan Sherpa Club in the semi-finals, while defending champions Bijay Youth Club of Hetauda will meet Club Sankata in the other last four clash.

Army team’s first chance on goal came in the eighth minute when Nawayug Shrestha failed to direct the ball properly from the box. Shrestha then made amends in the 16th minute after he fed Bal Krishna inside the area before firing into the nets. Two minutes later, Birgunj goalie Rakesh Gurung rescued his side making a brilliant save to deny Bharat Khawas. 

After Tanka Basnet missed another chance for the Army, Tamang made it 2-0 in the second minute of added on time in the first half scoring on a rebound. TAC continued to dominate the game after the resumption and Gurung made it 3-0 in the 55th cashing in on a cross from Balkrishna.

Tamang failed to notch up his second goal of the day wasting a chance in one-versus-one encounter with Gurung in the 58th minute. Birgunj had bolstered their squad by fielding five Jhapa players but it hardly paid dividend. They rarely threatened TAC goal before succumbing to a big-margin defeat.

Birgunj coach Sulav Jung Rana said they were outplayed by the might of TAC players. “Our boys were not able to coordinate in the game and couldn’t match the physical strength of Army players,” said Rana. His TAC counterpart Nabin Neupane was satisfied with the result but added: “We also missed few goal scoring chances and need to make sure that we don’t do that in semis,” said Neupane.