Sports
APF, Army set title clash
Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club set the Khaptad Gold Cup title clash with Tribhuvan Army Club with a 2-0 win over hosts Farwest XI on Sunday.Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club set the Khaptad Gold Cup title clash with Tribhuvan Army Club with a 2-0 win over hosts Farwest XI on Sunday.
Second half goals for Nepal international Anjan Bista and Nabin Lama send the hosts crashing out. The final is on Monday. Farwest were left ruing on the missed opportunities after keeping APF under constant pressure.
Yubaraj Khadka wasted an early scoring chance for APF while Ram Singh Rana and Sumit Gupta missed golden chances for Farwest. After a goalless first half, APF took the 57th minute lead through Bista under controversial circumstances.
Bista turned in a cross from Khadka to open the scoring. The goal forced the match to be stopped for around eight minutes as the Farwest protested the build up to the goal as they left Khadka free considering the ball cross the sideline.
Farwest coach Lalit Chand claimed that the first turned the game on its head. “Our players were morally down after conceding the first goal,” said Chand adding that referee too favours the “big teams”.
“We in turn were denied a clear penalty in the first half.” Chand said his team succeeded in making a remarkable come-from-behind win on penalties after a 1-1 deadlock over Chyasal Youth Club on Jan 5 but the morale-sapping refereeing decision prevented his players to show the same character today. To make the matter worse, they also lost their star foreign recruit Zico to injury in the first half.
APF coach Ratna Kaji Maharjan downplayed the first goal saying he was too far to see whether the ball went out or not. “It is always difficult to play against home team and playing with the team for the very first time made it even more tough. What’s more important is that was still managed to walk away with victory.”
Lama settled the APF nerves adding the second goal in the 77th minute. The winning margin would have been even bigger had not Lama found the woodwork in the 86th minute. During the extended 11-minute stoppage time, Philip Tamang and Dinesh Thagunna of Far-west also missed out on scoring chances.