Durand Cup: Aaren D'Silva's hat-trick helps Hyderabad FC beat Tribhuvan Army in final group game

Aaren D’Silva scored a hat-trick to guide Hyderabad FC (HFC) to a comfortable 3-0 win over Nepal’s Tribhuvan Army FC (TAFC) in the final Group E game of the Durand Cup football tournament in Guwahati on Tuesday. The Nizams will finish second in the group behind Chennaiyin FC, who topped with a 100 per cent record and nine points. TAFC finished fourth behind third-placed Delhi FC, with one point from the draw against Delhi. In Tuesday’s second game, Robin Yadav and Jeje Lalpekhlua scored goals as Bengaluru FC beat Gokulam Kerala FC 2-0 in their last group match. Coming back to the first game, HFC gaffer Thangboi Singto made four changes to his 11 that started the last Chennaiyin game, including bringing in Gurmeet Singh under the bar in place of Anuj Kumar. TAFC coach Megh Raj made two in contrast. The first goal for the Nizams came in the 16th minute. The cross came in from Ramhlunchhunga from the left flank. D Silva had to get ahead of his marker and directed his header away from keeper Bikesh Kuthu. The second goal came eight minutes later when Md Yasir found D’Silva inside the box with a delectable ball that sliced through the TAFC defense and the latter returned the compliment with a chip over the keeper. Sensing trouble, Megh Raj made a double change at the 30-minute mark, bringing in Santosh and Ashish in place of Sehseheng and Tanka Bahadur. But D’Silva duly completed his hat-trick in the second half. He could have done it a minute earlier than he finally did, missing a free-header. However in the 69th minute, Yasir put D’Silva on inside the box again and the tall and sturdy forward turned his marker on the inside and then placed it calmly with his left for a well-deserved hat-trick. It was the fifth hat-trick of the tournament and the fourth by an Indian. With inputs from PTI