DHARAN, Feb 23: Nepal Police Club has set summit clash with CMG Club Sankata in the ongoing 19th Budhasubba Gold Cup football tournament after registering a 3-1 victory over blue team of host Dharan Football Club in the second semifinal clash on Thursday.
Jumanu Rai netted twice and Man Bahadur Pariyar added another goal for the departmental side while Rejin Subba scored a consolation goal for Dharan.
The four-time champion Police will take on Sankata on Saturday in its eight final of the tournament. Earlier, Sankata had defeated Rupandehi-XI in the first semifinal of the tournament on Wednesday.
In Thursday's match played at ANFA Technical Center, Dharan, Man Bahadur Pariyar gave lead to Police in the 31st minute scoring off a header utilizing Buddha Lama's free kick. But six minutes later, the home team made the score 1-1 with Rejin Subba pulling a goal.
Heman Gurung had set up the goal for Rejin. Police retained its lead in the 40th minute with skipper Jumanu's long-range volley. Jumanu scoring his personal second goal of the match in the 66th minute saw Police seal the 3-1 victory. Jumanu, who was left unmarked by Dharan's defenders in the danger zone, scored off a header utilizing Suraj Ghimire's cross from the wing.
After guiding his team to the final, Police's head coach Kumar Katwal expressed his delight toward the performance of his players.
“Today, every aspect of our game play was strong. All the players played up to their mark,” said head coach Katwal.
Meanwhile, Dharan's head coach Subash KC said that their midfield and defense failure to coordinate well was the reason behind the defeat. “Our defense line was very poor today and the coordination between the defense and midfield was also below par. We have good players but their confidence was very low today,” said head coach KC.
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