Three Star steal 3pts through late strike
NRT held to 1-1 draw by Kathmandu Club

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, May 18 - A late strike from Surendra Tamang gave Three Star a 1-0 win over Friends’ Club here Thursday in the Martyrs Memorial ‘A’ division league.

Tamang broke the deadlock in the 84th minute when he unleashed a deft left footer after teammate Deepak Limbu stole the ball from a Friends’ Club defender a good 12 yards away from penalty area to the left.

The looping shot completely befouled the stand-in keeper, Gopal Maharjan and hit the top right hand corner of the net.

Friends’Club looked better of the two sides only to be denied by the luck despite making series of thrustful raids in both halves of the match.

Rabin Byanjankar hit the near post with his header as early in the 2nd minute off a nice cross of Rajkumar KC. In the 35th minute, Romesh Byanjankar was well on target with a long ranger from the right but that failed to beat the guard of the Three Star keeper, Manik Shakya.

Three Star’s performance, meanwhile, apart from some gutsy defending remained below par with midfield remaining much to be desired.

They had a half chance in the 13th minute, but skipper Deepak Amatya’s freekick sailed wide off the target.

Friends’ Club maintained the pressure even after the restart, making nice wall passes as well as some good overlapping moves from either end. But the success continued to elude them because of poor finishing and brave goalkeeping from Shakya.

In the 65th minute, Lakhan Chaudhary overlapping from the back, directed a thunderous right footer from 30 yards away only to be tipped over the bars by the keeper.

The chances kept on coming thick and fast for the Kupondole side but with a failure to arrest their casual approach up front, none of them could reach the back of the net.

Three Star brought in Surendra Tamang for under performing Chet Narayan Shrestha, and Tamang instilled much needed thrust to their midfield. Few minutes later he justified his presence with that spectacular goal.

Within a minute after conceding the goal, they squandered an equaliser when Rabin Byanjankar ballooned a fine chance from the close. That was soon followed by another wastage when Bimal Karki headed wide off the target on Rabin Byanjankar’s cross.

Friends’ Club could have return home without defeat but they were too unfortunate not to find the target inspite of so many good tries from close range.

Three Star keeper, Shakya reproduced his heroics to keep the clean sheet with outstanding saves.

Earlier, Kathmandu Club shrugged off their poor sequence as they forced NRT to share the points with 1-1 draw in the opening match of the day.

NRT, despite managing an upperhand throughout, failed to put in similar showing as in their last two outings and missed several easy scoring chances.

The absence of their star striker, Hari Thakuri, did not help their cause either as other operating up front failed to match his class.

Kalyan Khadgi hit the post with his header in the 9th minute and Prabin Pradhananga’s shot from the close failed to match his nice foot work and Kathmandu Club keeper, Narendra Shakya, saved it without difficulty.

Throughout the entire first session, Kathmandu Club managed a lone shot at goal. But Sunny Shrestha made the mess of a fine pass from the veteran, Rajesh Manandhar, with a weak shot to the keeper.

NRT finally took the lead in the 32nd minute when Purna Limbu headed home the ball on Sarbagya Manandhar’s corner. They had a fine chance to go 2-0 into the half time, but Prabin Pradhananga was slow to react on Sarbagya’s superb pass inside the penalty box.

The second session witnessed a totally different Kathmandu Club. Playing some swift diagonal passes, they easily created enough space in the NRT territory. And Sanjay Lama fired home from the right on Dinesh Thapa’s cross to make it 1-1 in the 63rd minute.

With well measured passes coming from Rajesh Manandhar, Thapa had at least couple of clear scoring chances but he was wide off the target on both the times.

NRT kept on pushing hard for three points but again Kathmandu keeper proved more than equal to his task when called upon, denying the close attempts from Prabin Pradhananga and Prabin Dangol in the 73rd and 83rd minutes respectively.

Gairidhara outplay Thapathali Janakalyan

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, May 18- Thapathali Jankalyan Pariwar went down to Gairidhara Club in the second day of the ongoing WATO Cup Championship.

Electing to bat first after winning the toss Gairidhara built a big total of 223 runs off their quota of 35 overs. The total was built around a run a ball 62 runs from Apurwa Shamsher Thapa. However, Thapa was lucky to find at least three lives when he was dropped. Rajiv Pant also contributed handsomely while making 36 runs. Thapathali also contributed to their own downfall by conceding over 70 extra runs.

For Thapathali Kiran Rimal, Amar Pradhan, Bhusan Bajracharya and Diwas picked up two wickets each.

When Thapathali came into bat, disaster struck early in the form of the run out of Sailesh and two more wickets fell quickly. It was only Amar Pradhan with 22 runs that included three fours and some late hitting by Prajwol Parajuli, Abhisekh and Diwas that ensured that the defeat was not so disappointing.

Thapathali ended their inning on the last over making 166 runs.

For Gairidhara, Birajan Pant, Mohammad Hussein, Umesh Maharjan all claimed two wickets.

The man of the match went to Apurwa Samsher Thapa.