Kathmandu, February 23:

Mahendra Police Club (MPC) kept their title hopes alive with a 1-0 win over Armed Police Force (APF) while Saraswoti Youth Club were relegated to ‘B’ division after a 8-1 thrashing by Carlsberg Manang Marsyangdi Club (MMC) at the Martyrs’ Memorial San Miguel ‘A’ Division League here today.

MPC, who started their penultimate match four points behind leaders Tribhuvan Army Club, struggled against another departmental team when their strikers muffed up more than a dozen easy scoring opportunities.

It was Jumanu Rai who scored the lone goal of the match and set up a final encounter with the Armymen.

Going into the last match, the Armymen have upper hand against MPC as they can walk away with the Rs two million title with a draw, while the Policemen are in a must-win situation. The first leg match between the two teams had ended in a goalless draw.

The two-time runners up received a severe blow when their skipper Hari Khadka remained doubtful for the final match. Hari was carried off the field in the stretcher after he injured his right knee in the 72nd minute.

Assistant coach Anil Adhikari said that Hari’s chances to recover for the final match were very less. “I cannot say the exact situation of his injury right now, but I think Hari’s chances to play in last match are less. He remains doubtful for the match against Army,” said Adhikari. “This is a severe blow in our mission,” he added. However, Adhikari was confident of the last match. “We will play attacking football and go for a win,” he said.

In the second match, Anil Gurung netted five goals, Nurudeen Olawale Salau struck twice and Nirajan Khadka scored one in MMC’s victory. Krishna Gopal Shrestha netted a consolation goal for Saraswoti. Gurung opened the scoring through a spot kick after Rajendra Basnet brought him down in the seventh minute.

He went on to score other four and took his personal tally to 26 goals, just one behind Bikarna Shrestha of TAC in the top scorer’s list. Jibesh Pandey of APF is third with 14 goals to his credit. The highest scorer will receive a award.

Saraswoti, who qualified for the upper division last year after a struggle of three decades in the ‘B’ Division, had opened their ‘A’ division journey with a 7-0 loss to MMC. They were impressive at times, but the Koteshwor team never looked like a threatening factor for the upper division opponents.

In a first leg match, they stunned everyone when the club went 3-0 ahead over powerhouse Army club within 54 minutes, but even then they failed to hold on the lead and TAC replied three goals. Brigade Boys Club of Lalitpur was the other team to be relegated this season.

Today’s matches

• RCT vs BBC @ 12:30pm

• Sankata vs Machhindra Club @ 2:30pm