Sports
Police edge Sankata in tiebreaker, enter final
Nepal Police Club edged Sankata Club 4-3 in tiebreaker to enter the final of the Mechinagar Gold Cup football tournament in Kakarvitta on Wednesday.Parbat Portel
Nepal Police Club edged Sankata Club 4-3 in tiebreaker to enter the final of the Mechinagar Gold Cup football tournament in Kakarvitta on Wednesday.
The outcome was decided from the spotkick following a 1-1 deadlock in the regulation period. Sankata’s run ended in the semi-finals after Roman Limbu and Laxman Ruchal failed to convert shots from the spot. Sankata had made bright start in the penalty after custodian Rajababu Thapa denied Suman Lama’s very first strike from the spot. But remaining four players—Ajeet Bhandari, Bharat Shah, Tirtha Rana Magar and Hari Kathayat—converted from the spot for Police. Amit Tamang, Tampi Earnest and Deepesh Ale Magar were the only successful players from spot.
Earlier, the match saw both teams create frequent scoring chances. In the fifth minute Subash Gurung wasted a scoring opportunity for Sankata before Eken Christian’s overhead kick in the 17th minute sailed above the bar. Sankata came closer to scoring in the 41st minute after Police custodian Satrudhan Chaudhary fumbled Fode Fofana’s header and Christian failed to guide the ball at post despite the ball landing on his feet.
Police broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute through Man Bahadur Pariyar. The forward was quick to send the ball at the back of net after he collected his own headed rebounder from Sankata shot-stopper Thapa. Pariyar was later declared man-of-the-match. Sankata’s search for an equaliser was rewarded three minutes from time after their foreign recruit Fode Fofana headed home in a counter attack to take the match to spotkicks.
Police coach Ananta Thapa said that the match was pushed to spot kicks after his team failed to hold for the final five minutes. Thapa also said his team wasted a double scoring chances in the first half. Sankata coach Salyan Khadgi rued on the missed chances. “We were unlucky in the tiebreaker. But we could have won the match in regulation time had we utilized scoring chances,” Khadgi said.
Defending champions Tribhuvan Army Club will take on Three Star Club in the second semi-final match on Thursday.