Lalitpur, June 4

Tribhuvan Army Club thrashed Friends Club 4-0 and advanced to the quarter-finals of the Lalit Memorial U-18 Football Championship here at the ANFA Complex grounds today.

Kshitiz Raj GT struck twice, while Biswas Udas and Dinesh Yonzon scored one each for the TAC, who finished at the top of the Group B with nine points and made it to the last eight as group winners. Despite the loss, Friends advanced to quarters with six points. Laxmi Hyundai Manang Marshyangdi Club and Far-west, who failed to open their accounts, were eliminated from the group round.

GT opened the scoring for TAC in the 21st minute and added his second goal of the match eight minutes later. Udas extended Army’s lead with a goal in the 56th minute before Yozon completed the rout with the team’s fourth goal in the 81st minute.

In the day’s another match, Nepal APF Club bounced back from a goal down before registering a 2-1 victory over Jhapa-XI. Jhapa took a lead in the match through Dishanta Rai’s goal in the 21st minute before APF substitutes Siddhartha Kumar Bal and Yang Dorje Thing struck in the second half to seal the victory.

Bal, who replaced Ramji Kumal in the 46th minute, levelled the scores in the 67th minute, while Thingm who came in place of Pawan Shrestha in the 89th minute, scored the winning goal in the second minute of the injury time. With the win, APF accumulated six points from three matches in Group A and advanced to the quarter-finals, while the loss ended the hopes of Jhapa, who earned one point from three matches.

The other two teams of the group, Chyasal Youth Club and Saraswoti Youth Club are in contention with four and three points respectively.

They are scheduled to face each other on Tuesday and a draw will be enough for Chyasal, while Saraswoti are in a must-win situation.