Army take sweet revenge on BBC, APF outplay Friends’ Club 3-1

Kathmandu, January 11:

Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) blanked Brigade Boys Club (BBC) 4-0 while Nabil Three Star Club (TSC) demolished Mahabir Club 7-0 in the Martyrs’ Memorial San Miguel ‘A’ Division League Football Tournament at the Dasharath Stadium today. Gyanendra Armed Police Force (APF) Officers’ Club beat Friends’ Club 3-1 in another match in Halchowk.

Chakra Tamang struck twice while Bishwo Biarag Samal and Raju Tamang scored one each for TAC. Santosh Sahukhala scored four, Surendra Tamang two and Vijay Gurung scored one for Three Star. Jibesh Pandey scored two and Mani Pandit one for APF while Dipen Limbu pulled one back for Friends’ Club at Halchowk.

At Dasharath Stadium, Biswo Bairag Samal of TAC became the fastest goal scorer in the league so far when headed home following Shiva Chaudhary’s cross in 53 seconds. Raju Tamang doubled the lead in the 12th minute on skipper Janamat Karki’s back header after Shiva had provided the cross. Seven minutes later, Chakra extended the lead. This time, too, it was Shiva the provider. Chakra found his second goal in the 31st minute scoring off Raju Tamang’s pass. BBC had won the first-leg match 2-0.

“It was out best performance in the league after the festival break,” said TAC captain Janamat Karki. He also said that they had worked out thier weaknesses that ultimately paid off in the game. He credited his team’s improved standard to new coach Kishor KC.

BBC coach Suman Yonzon said that his players’ overconfience let him down. “The win against the TAC earlier generated overconfidence in my players and ended up loosing by wide margin,” Yonzon said.

In the second match, Santosh Sahukhala score a hat-trick in nine minutes. Sahukhala headed in the first goal on a cross from Vijay Gurung in the third minute and found his second in the sixth off Surendra Tamang’s pass. He went on to complete hat-trick three minutes later, and again it was Surendra who provided him the header. Sahukhala added another goal in the 41st minute as his 25-yard strike sailed into the nets on Surendra’s pass.

Surendra made it 5-0 in his trademark fashion in the 72nd when he beat two defenders before scoring from a tight angle. Surendra scored his second three minutes later with a left-footed shot after Vijay Gurung’s attempt had rebounded to him. Vijay also joined the party scoring the seventh goal in the 80th minute.

Three Star coach Migrendra Mishra said that the players followed the strategy of scoring early goals and putting pressure on the opponents. “My strategy worked and we were albe to produce goals,” Mishra said. Mahabir coach Bishnu Prashad Poudel blamed the hopeless defence line as the only reason behind the wide margin loss.

At Halchowk, skipper Jibesh Pandey gave APF the lead five minutes in the game as he scored on a pass from Ajay Silwal. Mani Pandit added another beating the off-side trap in the 29th minute on Ganesh Lawati’s pass. Jibesh found the third goal in the 80th minute as he scored in an unattended post after beating Friends’ goalie Rajiv Shrestha. The 59th minute substitute Dipen Limbu scored the consolation goal capitalising on APF goalkeeper Samit Rajbhandari’s error in the second half injury time.

Today’s matches

At Dasharath Stadium

• MMC vs Machhindra @ 12:30pm

• MPC vs Bouddha @ 2:30pm

At APF Ground, Halchowk

• Sankata vs NRT @ 12:30pm