Lalitpur, September 29

Santosh Tamang scored in the injury time as Tribhuvan Army Club eked out a 2-2 draw with New Road Team in the opening match of the Pulsar Martyrs Memorial ‘A’ Division League here at the ANFA Complex grounds today.

Rojit Pudasaini and Rajesh Pariyar scored one each for NRT, while Tamang netted a brace for the Armymen.

Against the run of the play, Pudasaini put NRT ahead in the 12th minute when he found the back of the nets from six-yard box in a rebound after Rajesh Pariyar’s attempt was blocked by TAC defense in a corner kick. Tamang levelled the scores in the 38th from the spot after Saroj Tamang was adjudged to have handled the ball inside the penalty box.

NRT restored the lead in the 64th minute through a goal from Pariyar, who collected Nishan Limbu’s flick header before dodging defenders and slamming past TAC goalkeeper Bikesh Kuthu in one-on-one situation.

At a time when the match was coming to its end, NRT goalkeeper Ajeet Prajapati was penalised for wasting time by holding the ball for more than six seconds — the maximum time allowed for the custodian before releasing the ball. Tamang converted the resulting indirect kick after a gentle touch by Arik Bista to level the scores in the sixth minute of the injury time.

NRT coach Maheshwor Mulmi was furious over the decision and blamed FIFA Referee Sudish Pandey of being partial. “The referee was fully partial and all of his decisions were controversial,” said Mulmi. “We were tactically successful against the Army team in taking the lead twice, but the match was spoilt by referee’s decisions,” he added.

TAC coach Nabin Neupane slammed his players for putting in just 25 per cent in the match. “It is not acceptable. There was no proper movement from players and the attacking was very poor,” said Neupane.

Earlier, Youth and Sports Minister Jagat Bahadur Sunar inaugurated the tournament. A total of 14 ‘A’ division clubs are taking part in the league which is being held after a gap of more than four years. The champions will receive five million rupees, while runners-up will walk away with Rs 3.5 million. The third-placed team will get Rs 2.5 million, whereas teams finishing from fourth to sixth will receive Rs 1.5 million, Rs 700,000 and Rs 500,000 respectively.

The league, however, does not have the provision of relegation this time around. Instead, ANFA has decided to penalise the bottom two teams with two and one point and deduct preparation money by Rs 300,000 and Rs 200,000 respectively. The ANFA is providing the clubs with two million rupees each as preparation money.