Kathmandu, September 7:

Manang Marsyangdi Club (MMC) beat Boys’ Union Club (BUC) 9-1 and Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) defeated Ranipokhari Corner Team (RCT) 4-1 in the third-round match of the Martyrs’ Memorial San Miguel ‘A’ Division Football Tournament here today. The win put MMC on top of the standings on better goal difference with the Armymen. Both the teams have nine points each, but MMC has scored 19 goals conceding three goals, while TAC has netted 16 and conceded three. Mahendra Police Club have seven points, while Nabil Three Star Club are in the fifth spot with six points. Sankata and Armed Police Force have four points each.

MMC thrashed promising Boys’ Union, with Basanta Thapa netting five goals, all in second half. Thapa took his total league tally to 74 goals, including 12 in this edition.

Khum Gurung put MMC ahead in the 10th minute on Prashant Giri’s pass inside the six-yard box, while Birat Thapa doubled the tally seven minutes later following Khum Gurung’s pass. Khum made it 3-0 in the 28th dodging a defender and BUC goalkeeper Amir Byanjankar, who was replaced by Sundar Thapa in the next minute. Thapa conceded six goals in remaining 61 minutes.

Utsav KC pulled one back in the first minute of the first-half injury time on Suman Shres-tha’s corner. MMC’s fourth came through BUC defender Binay Chaudhary, who put the ball inside his own goal while trying to stop MMC skipper Kumar Thapa in the second minute of the first-half injury time. The half-time score was 4-1 and Basanta made it 9-1 in the next 45 minutes. He scored his first goal in the 2nd minute on Prashant Giri’s pass and added another six minutes later in Nabin Neupane’s assist.

Basanta completed his hat-trick in the 68th minute when he collected a pass from Khum Gurung and fired the ball past BUC custodian Thapa from the edge of the penalty box. Basanta scored his fourth goal in the 81st minute and completed the rout in the 89th minute.

In the other match, TAC skipper Janamat Karki scored two goals and Shiva Chaudhary and Ram Kumar Biswas netted one each in the armymen’s 4-1 win over RCT. Chaudhary opened the scoring in the 12th minute on his solo effort when he guided the ball alone from the left flank and fired home leaving the RCT goalkeeper Dilip Chhetri stranded.

Janamat doubled the tally six minutes later with a header following Santosh Nepali’s pass. Harihar Thapa narrowed the margin to 2-1 in the 43rd minute capitalising on TAC custodian Ful Bahadur Lama’s error on Sajan Shrestha’s pass. The army added another two goals in the second half. Biswas made it 3-1 in the 66th minute when the lanky striker headed home on Shiva Chaudhary’s pass, while Janamat sealed the victory in the 90th minute on Surendra Chaudhary’s pass.

19 minutes for 19th player

KATHMANDU:

This must be the first such instance in football that the 19th player was allowed to enter the field in football. At Dasharath Stadium, MMC sent Nlietup Tsering — who was not included in the list of seven substitutes — to replace Umesh Upreti in the 71st minute and the fourth official Bal Gopal Maharjan, who was sitting in his only second high-profile match, let the player in and no one was aware of that. MMC won the match 9-1.

“ANFA should look into such matters,” claimed MMC coach Chhiring Lopsang Gurung. “That is our mistake, but the fourth official is responsible for the error,” said Chhiring, who claimed that the club would not take any responsibilities for the mistake. Boys Union Club — despite their claim to protest — did not approach ANFA and the issue went unheard.

Earlier in the post match press conference, BUC coach Rajendra KC said that the club would file a protest over the issue.

“They have gone beyond the rules and we will file a plea with ANFA,” he added. ANFA spokesperson Lalit Krishna Shrestha said that the Disciplinary Committee meeting would make decision about the actions. — HNS

Today’s matches

Friends’ vs Brigade Boys @ 2pm

Jawalakhel vs Sankata @ 4pm