TN Memorial tournament United Sikkim Football Club(USFC) dismisses Sikkim Police

Sikkim/Gangtok: Bhaichung Bhutia co-owned United Sikkim Football Club Friday outclassed defending champions Sikkim Police 6-0 to storm into the finals of the State level Independence Day football tournament for Chogyal Sir Tashi Namgyal Memorial Cup being played here at Paljor Stadium.
In a totally one-sided game, Nigerian striker Daniel Bidemi hit a hattrick while local lads Ong Tshering Lepcha and Tenzing Tshepel Bhutia helped themselves to a goal each and Indian national team defender Govind Singh headed the sixth goal for the United Sikkim.
Bidemi and Ong Tshering had given lead of 2 goals in the first half for United Sikkim while Sikkim Police showed great fighting spirit. However, the police team was reduced to ten men when its goalkeeper Pintso Sherpa rashly dug his boots into a United Sikkim player in the 55th minute.
Bidemi scored his second goal from the resultant penalty and completed his hattrick in 61st minute. Coming as a substitute striker, Tenzing Tshepel tapped the fifth goal for United Sikkim three minutes later and Govind completed a fine outing for his team when he headed home a fine corner.
“This is the second match of our season and I am happy with the way the boys are playing. Still it early days and the players will take time to gel as a team. We played an attacking game against a strong team and goals came in the second half after we missed a lot of chances in the first half”, said United Sikkim chief coach H Stanly Rozario.
Bhaichung would obviously be pleased with the scoring rate of his players in the second half. Following the match seriously from the stands, he was not too happy with the misses in the first half and gave a strong pep talk to his players in the dressing room during the interval.
United Sikkim, which is seeing this I-Day tournament as a preparation for the upcoming Federation Cup challenge proposed at the end of this month, will be playing in the finals against the winners of tomorrow’s second semifinal between Mohan Bagan Football Academy and Langshing SC, a top club in Northeast based at Shillong.
Langshing SC had hammered local club Dzongri FC 6-0 and Mohan Bagan Football Academy had defeated Sikkim State Sports Academy 3-0 in their respective quarterfinal matches.
“Mohan Bagan Football Academy had good players but are young while Langshing SC players are more experienced”, said Rozario fancying the Shillong club as its probable opponent in the finals scheduled on August 15.
United Sikkim FC and Langshing SC had locked horns earlier this year in the final round of the second division I-League at Shillong. Their match had ended in a 2-2 draw.