Departmental teams clinched victory in a match today, played after the winter break, at Dashrath Stadium in the on-going San Miguel “A” Division League Football Tournament.
Bikarna Shrestha struck a hat-trick for the Nepali Army’s Tribhuvan Club to earn a 4-0 victory over minnows Samsung JYC while Mahendra Police Club (MPC) sidelined relegation-threatened Saraswoti Youth Club 1-0.
Bikarna scored a hat-trick to lead his goal tally to 16, highest so far in the league. TAC performed a jubilant game, attacking relentlessly from the start. Bikarna started the party scoring the first goal in the 36th minute when SJYC goalie Raju Yogi was unlucky to collect the shot from Shrestha. He doubled the tally four minutes later utilising the sleeping defense line of Jawalakhel.
After the lemon break, Army regained their pace and bamboozled SJYC in every aspect to score more goals. Shrestha completed his hat-trick in the 49th minute utilising the header pass from Janamat Karki.
Though SJYC players tried their best to make it a game, they could not do much as Bishwo Bairag Samal completed the rout scoring fourth goal in the 87th minute. Bikarna was adjudged Adidas Man of the Match.
“We are happy to extend our winning streak after the winter break”, Army Coach Babu Kaji Dhaubanjar said. “We had trained very hard during the break and even corrected our mistakes”, Dhaubanjar added, “But there is still some hitch in mid field line and defense line”. SJYC Coach Meg Raj KC at the post match conference said, “We couldn’t utilise the chances and we lost the match”, KC said.
Meanwhile, MPC toiled hard to beat Saraswoti Youth Club (SYC) to join the elite club with 38 points. But MPC stayed on second place with inferior goal difference. Former international player Ananta Thapa scored the match-winning goal in the 45th minute utilising the defensive blunder made by SYC defenders.
SYC had some breathtaking chances but their blunt looking front liners couldn’t utilize those opportunities. Ananta Thapa was declared Adidas Man of the Match.