Basnet headed home the winner in the 71st minute to send the Lalitpur based team crashing out of the tournament after its very first match. [break]
Basnet later adjudged the man-of- the-match headed a pass set by Santosh Nepali off Hiranya Magar´s corner. Three Star, the winner of recently held Udaypur Gold Cup was defeated 2-1 by Army in the domestic league earlier this year as well.
The Army will take on the winner among Sunday´s second quarterfinal match to be played between Yeti Airlines Himalayan Sherpa Club and Southern Sports Club of India.
Though the departmental team reeled under consistence pressure in the first half, the other half of the match was much balanced. Basnet´s attempt in the second half went inches wide for Army while Three Star´s Noorraj Kafle prevented Tek Bahadur Budathoki´s header from the goal-line.
Similarly, Three Star´s goalie Bikash Kutu punched Nawayug Shrestha´s powerful strike in the same half.
The Three Star club, without its four regular members--goalie Kiran Chemjong, Bikash Singh Chhetri, Biraj Maharjan and Anil Ojha--in the squad, also squandered some beautiful opportunities. They are in the closed camp of the national team along with Army goalie Bikash Malla and midfielder Raju Tamang.
In the 13th minute, Army goalie Gangaram Deuja denied Buddha Chemjong´s strike in Rajkumar Ghising´s pass. Similarly, Sarbendra Shrestha´s long shot for Three Star sailed inches away from the crossbar in 38th minute. In the second half, Shrestha and Ghising´s strike could not achieve the target.
After conceding the goal, Three Star´s coach cum player Pradeep Maharjan came in as a replacement of Buddha Chemjong, but failed to avert the result of the match.
"We lost the match due to minor mistakes," Maharjan said adding, "The boys were exhausted returning from Darjeeling on Friday after a long travel and we also did not get enough time for training."
Army´s assistant coach Babukaji Dhaubanjar said that his side won because of their hard work.
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