Leaders Jhapa win; TSC move to second

Lalitpur, September 27

Jhapa-XI maintained their position at the top of the Red Bull National League with a 2-0 victory over Nepal Police Club (NPC), while Ruslan Three Star Club (TSC) struggled to beat Sudur Biscuit Far-west FC 1-0 today.

Jhapa remained at the top of the table with 24 points from 13 matches, while TSC jumped one spot up to second with 22 points from 11 matches. Far-west are at sixth position with 14 points from 13 matches, while NPC remained unmoved at seventh spot with 12 points from 11 matches.

In the match played at the ANFA Complex grounds in Lalitpur, Olawale Afeez scored the solitary goal of the match in the 13th minute. Afeez received the ball inside the danger following a miss-pass from Far-west player and fired a shot from close range. Far-west goalkeeper Birendra Chand allowed the ball to go into the nets from between his legs. TSC had a chance to double the lead in the 69th minute but Afeez Olawale cleared the ball from goalline to deny Segun at a time when Chand was not in his position.

On other hand, Far-west also came close on couple of occasion but their strikers failed to utilise the chances. In the third minute, Shiva Subedi wasted a chance as he ended up with a wide shot after beating defender Saroj Dahal. U-19 skipper Bimal Gharti Magar also failed to give proper direction to the ball following a pass from Dinesh Rajbansi in the 53rd minute. Three Star goalkeeper Kiran Chemjong, who was later named the man-of-the-match award, punched Magar’s free kick in the 57th minute to save his team.

TSC coach Rajendra Tamang was happy with the win but not satisfied with the performance of his team. “The players focused on individual performance rather than the team game and the star players seemed over-confident,” he added. Far-west coach Kiran Shrestha was happy with the performance of his boys. “Boys played well against the club which was full of international players. Our defenders made a mistake and that cost us the match,” he said. “As the U-19 players are heading towards Iran for the AFC Qualifiers, the performance of some members of the team was below par. May be they were trying to save them,” he added.

In the match played in Surunga, Karna Limbu scored a brace as Jhapa recorded a comfortable victory. Limbu opened the scoring in 41st minute and doubled the tally in 82nd minute. Jhapa’s Devendra Tamang was adjudged the man-of-the-match.