Guwahati, Aug 22: Aaren D’Silva scored a hat-trick to guide Hyderabad FC 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 here 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.
Hyderabad 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 defence 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.
Bengaluru beat Gokulam
Champions Bengaluru FC ended their Durand Cup campaign with a fluent 2-0 win over Gokulam Kerala FC, as the group stage of the tournament concluded in Kolkata.
Gokulam had already qualified for the quarterfinals by topping Group C with six points, having won both their opening matches.
Bengaluru FC finished second in the group with five points.
For the winning side, Robin Yadav and Lalpekhlua struck one goal each. (PTI)
