BARA, Feb 5: Prime Polyclinic Bijay Youth Club defeated Saraswati Youth Club on sudden death to enter the semifinals of the Ruslan Eighth Simara Gold Cup Football Tournament on Sunday.
The match between Hetauda-based Bijay Youth and A division outfit Saraswati was pushed to sudden death following goalless draw in the regulation time and 3-3 draw on tiebreaker.
Ruslan Simara Gold Cup from Feb 20
In the sudden death, Saraswati's Tirtha Basnet hit woodwork while Ashok Thapa of Bijay Youth converted from the spot to help last edition runner-up confirm last four spot.
Earlier, Bijay Youth's Sunil Bal, Suraj Bista, Abhisek Rijal converted from spots while Sanjay Raj Bahak's shot went wide. Similarly Barshat Gurung's shot was saved by Saraswati's goalkeeper Krishna Gurung. Jonam Ligal, Sevehang Limbu and Ramesh Ghising scored in tiebreaker before Dipesh Shrestha was denied by Bijay Youth's goalie Ashok Baral while Sabin Khada hit wide.
In the regulation time, both sides failed to utilize handful of goal scoring opportunities. Bijay Youth missed chance to produce early lead in the second minute after Sunil Bal failed to score from close range. Three minutes later Bikey Lama failed to utilize Bijay Youth's another opportunity as his shot from penalty box went wide.
Saraswati got a good chance in the 20th minute but Ramesh Ghising's feeble shot was off the target by inches.
After the match Saraswati's head coach Krishna Gopal Shrestha said that failing to capitalize on scoring chances in the regulation time cost them.
Meanwhile, Bijay Youth's head coach Subin Ghimire also expressed dissatisfaction toward the poor conversion of his players. “We missed some good chances so we were forced to wait until sudden death for the win,” said head coach Ghimire.
Bijay Youth's Ashok Baral was declared the man-of-the-match and was rewarded with Rs 5,000. On Monday, A division side Himalayan Sherpa Club will take on Rupandehi-XI.
