Nepal Police Club (NPC) pipped Dharan FC ‘Yellow’ in sudden death penalty shootout 10-9 after a 1-1 deadlock to enter the quarter-finals of the Budha Subba Gold Cup football tournament on Friday.

In a marathon shootout, both teams converted their first five attempts prompting the sudden death penalties. In sudden death penalty shootout, NPC converted all five attempts but Bibek Rai failed to convert the fifth shot for Dharan watching his team crash out of the tournament. 

Ajit Bhandari, Tej Bhandari, Buddha Lama, Jumanu Rai and Abhishek Rijal scored for NPC in the first five attempts, while Dorje Lama, Binod Rai, Diwash Maskey, Josan Rai and Yogesh Rai scored for Dharan. In the sudden death shootout, Nir Kumar Rai, Bhola Silwal, Hem Tamang, Man Bahadur Pariyar and Bikarm Dhimal scored for NPC. Manoj Rai, Bandhan Limbu, Tirtha Basnet and Hem Limbu scored the first four goals for Dharan but Bibek missed out on the fifth attempt in sudden death.

Earlier, Dharan had taken a 17th minute lead through skipper Yogesh Rai, who converted from a freekick. But a lapse of concentration from the hosts’ team allowed the departmental team to bounce back into the game as Bikram Dhimal struck an equaliser deep into the second half injury time.

NPC coach Kumar Katuwal said his side failed to perform to their potential. “It was a tough game to win,” said Katuwal who expressed shock over the organisers’ decision to shorten the game to 80 minutes. 

His Dharan counterpart Subhash KC was happy to give the four-time champions Police team a tough time. “We should have won but luck deserted us when it mattered the most,” added KC. 

“We could not protect our lead in the last 30 seconds of the regulation time and had to suffer the defeat.” Rupandehi XI will take on Kakarvitta FC on Saturday.