GANGTOK, September 5: Denzong Boys and Sikkim Police entered the qualifying round to the main draw of the 31st All India Governor’s Gold Cup football tournament which kicked off from today here at Paljor Stadium.In the first match, Denzong Boys motorized by three Nigerians and other imported players overpowered United Sikkim Sporting Club (USSC) by three goals to one.
The Denzong Boys drew an early first blood in the 6th minute when midfielder Dipesh Thapa slammed home a loose ball into the net from the box. Central forward Krishna consolidated the advantage when he scored the second goal for Denzong Boys in the 23rd minute.
In the 32nd minute, Nigerian Taurus P Manneh rounded the USSC goalkeeper to make it 3 goals for Denzong Boys before the lemon break.Eze Collins scored the consolation goal for USSC in the final few minutes of the game. Free flowing football was much hampered by heavy downpour.
With this victory in the pre-qualify round, Denzong Boys has entered the qualifying round of the Gold Cup where it will meet Royal Rangers, Delhi on September 7.
In the second match, the experience of Sikkim Police prevailed over the youthful exuberance of Sports Academy Sikkim as the police team won the match 2 goals to 1.
Suman Dewan scored the first goal for Sikkim Police in the 2nd minute of the game. The lead was secured by Lokbir Lamichaney in the 22nd minute.
Biden Rai scored the consolation goal for Sports Academy in the 89th minute.
Sikkim Police now faces BNR Kolkata in the qualifying round on September 8.
Local team Dzongri Club will play against Dehradun XI and State I-Day football tournament champions SSB XI will play against Eastern Railways tomorrow in the pre-qualifying round of the showpiece event of Sikkim Football Association at Paljor Stadium
