GOVERNOR’S GOLD CUP

Three Star knocks out USFC
GANGTOK, 07 Nov: Three Star Nepal made it to the semi-finals of the 33rd All India Governor’s Gold Cup Football Tournament here at Paljor Stadium. Playing the third quarter-final match today, a brace by Santosh Shahukhal helped Three Star Nepal outplay United Sikkim Football Club [USFC] 2-1 in a keenly contested match which went into extra time.
Today’s match also witnessed a packed stadium of spectators, with both clubs receiving rousing support.
In the 20th minute, MD Lepcha headed a strong cross to win the lead for the home club, USFC. The Nepal club also launched some good attacks but could not get past the USFC goalkeeper, who kept up a good performance throughout the match.
In the second half, as players of both the teams tried their best to score and the match looked like it would end in USFC’s favour, a penalty awarded to Three star in the 4-minute injury time turned the match around.
The referee offered a penalty shot to Three Star on a foul in the home club D-Box area, which was successfully turned into the equalizer by Santosh Shahukhal.
The match was then extended for 30 minutes extra time, in which Santosh completed his brace and scored the winning goal for Three Star Nepal to enter the semi-final round. With this, the home club has been knocked out of the tourney.
The match also witnessed 9 yellow cards, to Yogesh Gurung [35th minute], Aditya Choudhary [90th minute plus] and Anil Gurung [90th minute plus] of Three Star Nepal and to USFC’s Sahinsha Ansari [27th minute], Sanjeev Mali [88th minute], Koko Sagav [72nd minute], Rakshid Kumar [90th minute], Jiten Rai [69th minute] and Tenzing Tsephel [90th plus].
Bhawanipur Football Club, Kolkata and BSF Jallandhar have already entered the semi-final round of the tournament. The last quarter-final match will be played between Army XI and Mohun Bagan SAIL at 2 PM on Thursday.