MMC, Army share point

2014-01-16
Manang Marsyangdi Club (MMC) and Nepal Army Club (NAC) shared points after playing a competitive 1-1 draw in their Martyrs Memorial Red Bull ‘A’ Division League 2070 match here at the Dasharath Stadium on 2014-01-16.

An own goal from African recruit  defender Leonel Stephen gave Armymen the fourth minute lead but Deepak Rai scored an equalizer for MMC in the 73rd minute. NAC were gifted the lead in the fourth minute when Stephen scored a suicide goal which put Army men 1-0 in the first half of the match. MMC started a football in good note and Yona Elias failed to find the header in the 2nd minute of the match. Raju Tamang’s chip ball was beautifully defended by MMC defenders in the 3rd minute of the match. Army men were lucky to get gifted goal when Bharat Khawas’s cross was cleared by Stephen to his own post and goalie Bishal Shrestha faild to hold the ball in the 4th minute of the match. After the goal, MMC tried to be aggressive and Bikram Lama’s cross was beautifully cleared by TAC defender in the 8th minute of the match. Army men looked perfect in the match, they played fantastic football and they almost double the lead in the 16th minute of the match when Raju Tamang’s shot was beautifully cleared by goalie Shrestha. Another good move came from Army men in the 20th minute of the match when Bharat Khawas’s flying kick was saved by goalie Shrestha. MMC got good chance in 22nd minute of the match when Sujal Shrestha’s lovely free kick hit the wall; similarly they wasted another good chance when unmarked boy Shiva Shrestha kicked the ball wide in the 38th minute of the match. In the second half, Raju Tamang’s good pass was wasted by Bharat Khawas in the 46th minute of the match. MMC African recruit forward Yona Elias wasted a good chance in the 48th minute. Army men played defensive- counter attack strategy in the second half. Sagar Thapa’s poor free kick was well saved by goalie Ful Bahadur Lama in the 52nd minute of the match. Yona Elias missed so many chances in this match. Army men missed the golden chance in the 66th minute of the match when forward Nawayug Shrestha’s shot was hardly saved by goalie Shrestha. Finally MMC broke Army men defense in the 73rd minute of the match when Deepak Rai scored superb goal to equalize the score. After that goal both teams looked dull and created few chances only. With this result MMC  top the league with 13 points from six matches and NAC with equal matches have 8 points.
MMC coach Hari Om Shrestha told us that “Our substitutes made an impact in the game and we had plenty of chances to win it’’. Meanwhile NAC coach Yogamber Suwal rued on the missed chance.
In the first match Machhindra FC (MFC) beat Boys Union Club (BUC) 3-1 to hand the struggler their fifth defeat in six matches. An early goal from African recruit Christophe in the 16th minute of the match gave well confident on MFC. They continually played attacking football. Bishal Rai A doubled the tally for MFC in the 29th minute of the match. In the second half, BUC scored a penalty goal through Ashim Jung Karki to make score 2-1. After the penalty BUC looked aggressive to level the score but all went vain when MFC’s African recruit ZaZa scored in the 68th minute to make 3-1. With this win MFC are in eight positions with seven points while BUC remain just above the bottom placed RCT with three points.