Departmental team Nepal Police Club (NPC) defeated Kakadbhitta Football Training Centre of Jhapa 2-0 to advance into the semi-finals of the Budha Subba Gold Cup in Dharan on Monday.

Kakadbhita gifted an own goal in the first half before Police skipper Suman Lama sealed the victory in the second half. Police will now meet Manang Marshyangdi Club, whom they had eliminated during the Aaha-Rara Gold Cup quarter-finals in Pokhara, in the semi-final. The eventual champions of the Aaha-Rara, NPC, are chasing their third title of the season. A month earlier they won football gold during the National Sports Council Championships in Dang.

NPC began offensively from the outset and came closer to scoring in the fifth minute. Rejin Subba’s strike sailed off the target after he was set by Nir Kumar Rai. Five minutes later, Rabi Paswan’s strike on an open net after beating goalie Kiran Jimmy was cleared by Kakadbhitta defender. Moments later Subba’s header went wide in a pass from Avishek Rijal before Rai fired wide in a one-on-one situation with Kakadbhitta goalie.

Kakadbhitta wilted under the pressure in the 19th minute when Bikash Thulung gifted NPC an own goal inadvertently scoring in his own nets while clearing a cross from Subba. NPC skipper Lama then denied Kakadbhitta an equaliser in 22nd minute  blocking out a goal-bound shot  from Bikash Limbu’s. Police goalie Satrughan Chaudhary prevented Khamir Gilson Kandangwa during the half an hour mark. 

Police doubled the advantage in the 64th minute through an acrobatic shot from Lama after the skipper was set by Paswan inside the zone. Kakadbhitta, who have made it to the final of Rajgadh Gold Cup in Jhapa on Sunday, also failed to utilise scoring chances after the break. Police could have made it 3-0 in the stoppage time but Rai’s shot on goal hit the woodwork.

Police coach Ananta Thapa said his young guns were able to give continuity to the same momentum they were in Pokhara. “The boys played in the same tuning as we did in Pokhara,” he said. His Kakadbhitta counterpart Min Bahadur Basnet blamed a biased refereeing for the defeat. “The referee did not award three penalties we needed to be given,” said Basnet lauding the performance from his boys.