APF custodian Samit Rajbhandari starred for the winning side as he denied two spot kicks of the Three Star. The fate of the winner was decided through a tiebreaker following a 2-2 stalemate in the regulation time and goalless show in the added time. [break]
Nirajan Malla scored the deciding spot kick for the departmental team which narrowly escaped relegation in the A division league last season. Krishna Lama was the only one to miss the third spot kick for APF as he hit the bar while Ganesh Lawati converted the opening spot kick followed by skipper Kumar Thapa, Amir Shrestha and finally Malla.
Bijay Dhimal failed to convert the first spot kick for Three Star as goalie denied him and same was the fate of Yogesh Gurung who took on the third penalty for Three Star. Buddha Chemjong and Bikram Lama converted penalties.
APF will play semifinal on Wednesday against the winner between Nepal Army Club and Himalayan Sherpa Club, the last quarterfinal of the tournament to be held on Monday.
Three Star had come up with dominating numbers of new signing following the move of their star players in other team in the season along with star striker Santosh Sahukhala and Anjan KC.
Earlier in the regulation time, APF came from behind twice to level the scoring. Three Star striker Chemjong had scored both the goals for team. He had opened the scoring in the 27th minute but APF new signing Jeevan Sinkeman leveled the scoring in the third minute after the interval.
Chemjong once again gave lead to Three Star in the 63rd minute. The lead could only last for 15 minute as Ganesh Lawati scored his fourth goal of the tournament to cancel the lead through penalty. APF were awarded with penalty after Three Star second choice goalie Sanjeev Shrestha played foul to Malla in the box. First choice goalie Kiran Chemjong did not play in the match owing to his personal works.
Three Star were unfortunate in the 14th minute when Ranjit Shrestha missed penalty after Rajkumar Ghising was fouled by APF defender Sudip Shrestha.
Earlier, Three Star dominated the first half of the match and created some chances but they were unable to find the back of the net on many occasions unlike APF which could not create a single attractive chance.
APF came up with improved show after the interval and created some chances. Malla´s powerful strike from the close range went inches wide from the post and Lawati missed a couple of chances.
APF Manager Prem Kumar Shrestha praised the opponent´s performance and said that he had not expected such tough competition. "We could not put up a good show before the interval as our game was not set," Shrestha said.
Three Star coach Meghraj KC blamed the absence of his regular custodian Kiran Chemjong and injury of some of his players \\ for defeat. "We only have 16 registered players in the squad and we faced problems in substituting them as well," KC said.
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