Sports
Simara Gold Cup: Three Star shoot Farwest out
Three Star Club defeated Farwest XI 4-2 on penalties to enter the semi-finals of the Simara Gold Cup football tournament in Bara on Monday.Laxmi Sah
Three Star Club defeated Farwest XI 4-2 on penalties to enter the semi-finals of the Simara Gold Cup football tournament in Bara on Monday.
The match was decided directly from the spot after Mani Ram Chaudhary forced equaliser three minutes from time for Farwest as the regulation time ended in 1-1 deadlock. Bishwas Shrestha had given first half lead to Three Star. Rejin Dhimal, Buddha Chemjong, Nirajan Khadka and Sunil Bal converted from the spots for Three Star. But only Narendra Chaudhary and Rakesh Hamal scored from the spot for Farwest while Jeevan Chaudhary was denied by goalie Alan Neupane and Chetan Tharu hit the woodwork.
Three Star controlled the first half but lost their way in the second half to allow Farwest bounce back into the game. Three Star’s foreign recruit Ajayi Martins wasted scoring chance as early as in the fourth minute. He ended up with feeble shot from the area straight into the grateful hands of goalkeeper Jeeven Bhattarai following a pass from Nirajan Khadka. In the 25th Peter Segun headed inches above bar in a Sunil Bal corner. Two minutes later Bal fired above bar from inside the area. Dhimal and Shrestha also wasted chances in the 30th and 33rd minutes.
Farwest beat chance came in the 39th minute when goalie Neupane denied Jeevan Chaudhary. The Lalitpur-based outfits Three Star made the breakthrough in the 43rd minute after Shrestha capitalised on a pass from skipper Khadka. Three minutes after the restart Shrestha squandered another chance as he failed to control Buddha Chemjong’s pass in one-on-one situation with goalie Bhattarai.
In the 50th minute Madav Bhandari shot above bar for Farwest and seven minutes later custodian Neupane punched out Bhandari’s shot to safety. In the 77th minute, Filip Tamang missed a sitter failing beat goalie Neupane in one-on-one encounter. But Farwest finally found the equaliser in the 87th when Chaudhary converted a pass from Chetan Tharu.
The victory came at a cost for Three Star who lost Martins for two matches as he was handed a two-match suspension for manhandled his teammate Bishwas Shrestha.