Tribhuvan Army Club defeated defending champions Three Star Club 3-1 in tiebreaker to enter into the semi-final of the Madan Bhandari Memorial International Invitational Itahari Gold Cup here on Monday.

The win also avenged Army’s sudden death defeat in the final of Simara Gold Cup held in Simara on Saturday. The match was decided from the spot after the departmental team squandered second half lead from skipper Bharat Khawas. The Nepali international had headed to open scoring in the 58th minute. Ananta Tamang restored the parity for Three Star in the 72nd minute after he applied one-touch strike to converted Buddha Tamang pass as the regulation period finished at 1-1 tie. 

Army custodian Bikesh Kuthu denied three shots from the spot in penalty shootout  and won the-man-of-the-match award. He denied Ranjit Dhimal, Buddha Raj Limbu and Rupesh KC as skipper Bikram Lama was the only player to convert from the spot. Skipper Khawas, Santosh Tamang and Bivek Basnet converted their penalties for Army while Deep Lama fired off the target.