After a dour goalless stalemate in regular 90 minutes and another 15 minutes of extra time, the departmental outfits finally saved their blushes winning their opener 6-5. The tiebreaker was extended to ninth kick apiece. Rupandehi had fielded national team teenager Bimal Gharti Magar in the squad.

Rupandehi goal keeper Deepak Chhetri had kept the team’s hope alive when he saved a spot kick from NPC skipper Jumanu Rai but Dipen Shrestha, Suman Subedi, Bhola Silwal, Suraj BK, Hari Kathayat and Dinesh Gurung scored to hand NPC the victory. Hem Tamang too failed to score for the departmental side.

Gharti Magar, Pukar Gahatraj, Kalu Thapa, Ravi Silwal and Suraj Thing scored for Rupandehi while Laxman Thapa, Nishant Dhungana and Barsat Gurung missed out on their attempts.

After Dinesh Gurung scored the sixth goal for NPC, Laxman Thapa shot wide to hand victory to the departmental team.

Earlier, Gharti Magar, had squandered two scoring chances which could have sent Rupandehi through at the expense of their more illustrious opponents.  NPC striker Jumanu Rai and midfielder Silwal were way below their best. NPC coach Birat Krishna Shrestha blamed his side’s lackluster performance to the lack of preparation.

“We arrived here without any real preparation and that was reflected in mis-communication between the players,” said the NPC coach. “We should have gone ahead in the first half but for the lack of coordination,” added the coach who wants his team to put on a better display in the next match against Tribhuvan Army Club.