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| Police cop beating from Dordoi |
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| Defending champions Dordoi Dynamo defeated Nepal Police Club for the third time in the AFC President's Cup. |
BISHKEK – Dordoi Dynamo’s march towards a third straight title remained on course on Friday as the defending champions defeated last year’s beaten finalists Nepal Police Club 3-1 in their semi-final clash.
Nepal Police Club were eager to avenge last year’s 2-1 final defeat by the Kyrgyzstan League side in Pakistan, but David Tetteh’s 19th minute opener and Mirlan Murzaev’s strike just before the hour mark sent the home side on their way before Anant Raj Thapa’s strike with 18 minutes remaining reduced the deficit.
But as the Police pushed for an equaliser, Tetteh led a Dordoi counterattack and the Ghanaian sealed the win as he rifled home with six minutes remaining.
Dordoi will face inaugural President’s Cup champions Regar-TadAZ in Sunday’s final after the Tajikistan champions earlier edged out Turkmenistan’s Ashgabat 4-3 in extra time.
The home side began the game at a frantic pace backed by a vocal band of home support and controlled the opening exchanges, with Nepal restricted to rare brief counterattacks.
But despite their domination the home side were forced to settle for several long range efforts and deep crosses which were comfortably dealt with by Ritesh Thapa in the Nepali side’s goal.
The Police’s best chance of the half came as the Dordoi defence was caught flat footed and Ju Manu Rai, who scored four goals in the group stage, blazed over from the edge of the area after being allowed time and space.
The home side were finally rewarded after 19 minutes as full-back Talant Samsaliev broke down the right wing and, from the byline, found Tetteh just inside the area and the Ghanaian had time to pick his spot in the bottom left hand corner past the despairing dive of Ritesh Thapa.
Police captain Ramesh Budhathoki should have pulled his side level four minutes before the hour mark as he met Bhola Nath Silwal’s corner at the front post, but could only guide his header over the crossbar despite being allowed to move into the area unmarked.
The Police were made to pay for the wasted opportunity as Murzaev doubled Dordoi’s lead two minutes later.
The chance looked to have gone after Tetteh failed to bring Murzaev’s low cross under control, but the Police failed to clear and the ball eventually found its way back to Murzaev, who lifted his shot into the roof of the net from just inside the area.
With 18 minutes left on the clock, Anant Raj Thapa combined with Chetan Ghimire to pull a goal back for Nepal champions.
But after Murzaev wasted a chance to fire an instant response, Tetteh surged forward and fired low past a helpless Ritesh Thapa, who had been left exposed.
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