Organizers stunned, NRT in Finals
Simara: New Road Team (NRT) has entered the final of the 12th Jagdamba Jitpursimara Gold Cup in Simara. In the first semi-final match played at Simara Stadium on Wednesday, NRT stunned Nawa Janajagriti Youth Club by 3-2.
Stephen Samir single-handedly scored two goals for NRT while Mesuke Olomai added another to secure a place in the last two. Ayush Ghalan and Alan Thapa scored one goal each for the organizers.
The new team is certain to win the Jeetpursimra Gold Cup title after the janajagriti who is also the winner of the fifth edition losing to NRT. The other three teams that had earlier won the Jitpursimara Gold Cup along with the organizers have dropped out of the competition. Sankata, Himalayan Sherpa and Bijay Youth had earlier lifted the Gold Cup title.
NRT put pressure on the organizers to stand up for the title. The organizers, who entered the semifinals by defeating Sudurpaschim 11, made some chances against NRT at the beginning of the game but failed to make good use of them.
In the 12th minute of the match, organizer Mohit Gurung missed an excellent opportunity inside the box. Mohit could not make good use of the pass made by Donna Thapa. His weak strike was easily saved by NRT goalkeeper Pradip Bhandari.
With the support of the home crowd, the organizers missed another opportunity in the 20th minute of the match. Mohit again squandered the attractive opportunity created by Ayush Ghalan. His shot was also saved by NRT goalkeeper Pradip. The home crowd looked disappointed as the organizers missed some chances in the first half against strong NRT.
NRT opened the scoring in the 31st minute of the first half against the organizers. Stephen Sameer gave the team the lead by making good use of the pass made by Ranjan Bisht of NRT. Goalkeeper Santosh Mahat could not save his shot.
After taking the lead in the game, NRT dominated the organizers in the first half. NRT, which did not allow the organizers to create much opportunity, equalized at the beginning of the second half. Ayush Ghalan scored in the 65th minute to make it 1-1. Ayush returned the home team to the game by scoring Mohit Gurung cross through the head.
The spectators, who were slowed down by NRT’s lead, started jumping after Ayush’s goal. The hustle and bustle of the home crowd created some opportunities for the enthusiastic organizers to play aggressively after the game was leveled. However, the organizers could not succeed as the front line players could not move.
NRT added two more goals in the 85th and 87th minutes of the match which became competitive after the equalizer of the organizers. Taking advantage of the weakness of the opposition defense, Mesuke scored the goal. Mesuke’s powerful strike from inside the box directly kissed the net. Soon after, Stephen Samir added another goal to make it 3-1.
Mesuke and Stephen also scored in the first win over Vijay Youth. In the first game against Vijay Youth, Mesukede scored two goals by Stephen. Against the hosts, Stephen scored twice and Mesuke scored once. In the ongoing tournament, the number of goals of both the players has reached three.
After falling behind 3-1 in the last minute of the match, the disappointed organizers scored a goal in the last minute of the match. Alan Thapa scored for the hosts in the extra five minutes of injury time.
At the time of the injury, the organizing team was made up of ten players. Donna Thapa, who played for the organizers, was shown a red card during the injury. Referee Navindra Maharjan showed a red card to Donna for arguing.
Stephen Sameer of NRT, who scored a crucial victory against the organizers, was declared Man of the Match. He has received five thousand cash prizes. The second semi-final match will be played between Nepal APF Club of Armed Police Force and Bagmati Youth Club of Sarlahi on Thursday.
