Dharan, March 22:

Skipper Surendra Tamang and Pradeep Maharjan scored in second half as Nabil Three Star Club defeated New Road Team (NRT) 2-0 in the semi-final of the ninth Budha Subba Gold Cup football tournament here today.

After the evenly poised first half, Three Star took control over the game and put pressure on NRT. Skipper Tamang put Three Star ahead in the 55th minute before Maharjan doubled the lead 13 minutes later. Three Star, who won the seventh edition of the tournament here, will take on defending champions African United, who eliminated Sahara Club of Pokhara in sudden death tie-breaker on Wednesday, in the final. Tamang, who is the first player to score a hat-trick in the tournament so far, scored a spectacular goal after beating two NRT defenders and man of the match Maharjan found the net in the 68th when he fired home following a cross from Vishan Gauchan.

Three Star coach Bal Gopal Maharjan said that the overall performance of the team was satisfactory. “The team could not perform as expected but the situation changed to our side after Surendra (Tamang) scored the goal,” added Maharjan.