BoB League: Second in the league table, FC Terton needed to beat league leader Thimphu City if they were to lift the trophy. They did it in style beating City 4-2 yesterday evening in the final match of the Bank of Bhutan national league.
Defender Karun Gurung broke the deadlock in a game that turned physical from the first whistle with both teams needing to win. The defender neatly tucked a free kick in the corner of the net in the 20th minute.
However, Terton’s lead was short lived when winger Biren Basnet equalised for City 10 minutes later. The seesaw battle saw several nail biting moments, which could have ended in anyone’s favour.
Terton’s Diwash Subba rose to the occasion scoring two goals within 10 minutes remaining in the first half. The winger scored his first goal in the 35th minute after controlling the ball with the chest and finishing it with his left foot. Terton took a two-goal-lead when Subba scored again in the three added minutes.
The must win game for both the teams was clearly putting pressure on the players. The game was becoming increasingly physical. Five players were booked when they got into a brawl.
City tried hard but could manage a consolation in the 90th minute when Tshering Dorji’s scored from the penalty spot. But the winners of the A-division league, FC Terton’s Tshering Wangdi sealed the game with a final goal in the 90+4 minutes.
Terton’s head coach Pema said that since they were the champions of the A-league, their expectation was to win the BoB league too. “Both the teams played their best but our team had good coordination and communication among themselves,” he said. “Football is a team game and we won as a team today.”
Karun Gurung, one of the senior players on the squad said that they started the whole season positively and wanted to end it with a win. “We haven’t lost a single game in the whole tournament. Although difficult, we wanted to keep this streak running,” he said. “We’re grateful for the enormous support from the crowd that we enjoyed throughout the tournament. With such support we’re hopeful to win the next season also.”
Meanwhile, Thimphu FC secured an emphatic win over Paro United and came second piping Thimphu City by a single point. Played first, Thimphu FC had to depend on the result of the second match between Terton and City.
FC Terton took away a trophy, individual medals and cash prize of Nu 1 million (M). The runners up, Thimphu FC bagged Nu 0.5M and the third place, Thimphu City took home Nu 0.2M.
The Bank of Bhutan funded the two-month long tournament. A total of six teams took part in the tournament.
Younten Tshedup