Veteran striker Surendra Tamang scored the winning goal for the Yeti Himalayan, the runner-up of the National League, in the 60th minute of the match. [break]
Earlier, Ganesh Khadka provided lead to Yeti Himalayan in the 29th minute and Anil Gurung leveled the score in the injury time of the first half.
Khadka scored from the edge of the box as Pukar Gahatraj supplied a pass to him. Khadka had scored a goal in the opening match of the tournament to beat National League champion Nepal Police Club and to reach semifinal of the tournament.
Sandeep Rai could have leveled the score in the 42nd minute had not Khadka saved Rai´s free-kick with a header.
However, unmarked Anil Gurung in a goalmouth melee utilized a cross from Amir Shrestha in the injury time of the first half to level the score.
In the second half, Yeti Himalayan substituted Jagjit Shrestha and sent in Surendra Tamang. Tamang received the ball in a free kick off Khadka from the flank and scored to stun poor defense of MMC. The goal sealed the match for Yeti Himalayan. Khadka was adjudged man-of-the-match.
As Yeti Himalayan took the lead, rowdy crowd started to disrupt the game throwing different objects on the pitch.
However, security forces brought the situation under control and match resumed after halting for 10 minutes. However, the audiences again threw objects on MMC players. MMC striker Anil Gurung picked a minor injury as an object hit his leg. However, police controlled the situation immediately.
MMC could not make comeback after the incident and suffered a 2-1 loss.
"The crowd was not there to watch football but to abuse players," said Gurung. "It is better to lose a match than play in front of a rowdy audience," he added.
MMC coach Hari Om Shrestha alleged the audiences of harassing his players during the match. "Winning and losing a match is not a big deal but now we have to think twice before participating in any football tournament in Biratnagar," said Shrestha.
Audiences chanted against MMC showing their dissatisfaction on MMC´s behavior during the quarterfinal match. The quarterfinal match between MMC and Hong Kong Nepalese Football Team had ended in a 2-2 draw on Monday and MMC had refused to take the spot kicks citing bad light despite repeated calls from the referee and organizer.
MMC had received a walkover on Tuesday as Hong Kong team did not arrive for the replay.
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