Kathmandu, December 1:

Both the police teams — Mahendra Police Club and Gyanendra Armed Police Force — struggled in the beginning before winning their matches at the Martyrs’ Memorial San Miguel ‘A’ Division League here at Dasharath Stadium today.

APF scored three goals in the last eight minutes to beat Brigade Boys Club 3-0, while MPC survived a Boys Union Club scare before registering a 2-1 win. Skipper Kumar Thapa, Sunil Subedi and Basmeta Basnet scored for APF. Arjun Rijal put MPC ahead before Raju Rai levelled the scores and Jumanu Rai found the winner for MPC.

With the win, MPC moved on top of the standings with 22 points from eight matches. Tribhuvan Army Club, who have played seven matches, are second at 19, and Manang Marsyangdi third with 17 points.

In the first match which was evenly poised before the APF took control in the last 10 minutes, the policemen finally got to the scoresheet in the 83rd minute through skipper Kumar Thapa, who simply back-flicked Sunil Subedi’s pass. Subedi doubled the lead two minutes later following a pass from Ganesh Lawati, who replaced Jibesh Pandey in the 64th minute.

Another substitute Basmeta Basnet, who came in place of Ajay Silwal in the 89th-minute, made it 3-0 two minutes later when he found the net following Mansajan Rajbhandari’s pass. BBC goalkeeper Binod Gurung was named the Adidas man of the match.

In the second match, MPC took lead in the 12th minute when Arjun Rijal headed home from 6-yard box on skipper Hari Khadka’s cross. Raju Rai stunned the policemen with an equaliser in the 32nd minute when he controlled Dipendra Pariyar’s pass before firing the ball past MPC goalkeeper Ritesh Thapa.

BUC players were giving the policemen a hard time with excellent pace and through passes, but Jumanu Rai — who was later named the Adidas man of the match — dashed their hopes of earning a point with a superb 20-yard strike that sailed into the second bar.

Today’s matches

• Army vs JYC @ 1:00pm

• Nabil Three Star vs Friends Club @ 3:00pm