 |
Kathmandu Friday January 18, 2002 Magh 05, 2058.
|
Rajan hat-trick steers MMC to
semis
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Jan 17: Striker Rajan Rayamajhi
scored four goals as Manang Marsyangdi Club (MMC) mauled New Road Team (NRT) 5-0 on
Thursday to book a place in the semifinals of the Birendra Memorial Invitational football
tournament on Thursday.
MMC showed no sign of long lay-off starting the
match promisingly in their first venture of the tournament.
The match played at Dashrath Stadium followed
the similar high scoring pattern of first and second quarterfinals of the tournament. And
like two previous quarterfinals, the first half remained comparatively a hard-fought
affair.
Both the teams failed to exploit attacking moves
in the beginning.
First, a real chance came to MMC way in the 20th
minute when Basanta Thapa hit the ball released by Nabin Neupane inches outside the second
bar. NRT’s Naresh Shrestha soon failed to reach to the ball left by MMC goalkeeper
Binod Dangol while collecting a powerful Hari Thakuri’s shot from the right angle of
18-yard area.
MMC’s Rayamajhi broke the ice in the 33rd
minute with a brilliant goal. He dribbled past three of NRT defenders before burying a
deft rightfooter for a 1-0 lead.
The goal opened the floodgate for MMC as they
netted another following a well-marshaled move. Ujan Shrestha released the ball at the
right angle to Basanta Thapa who, wasting no time, quickly supplied to Rayamajhi at the
centre of penalty area for a simple shot at the vacant post. With the goal Rayamajhi
doubled his and team’s tally.
MMC were at the driving seat in the half way
with 2-0 lead.
The second half saw MMC finding their attacking
rhythm as well as slackness in NRT defense. MMC scored further three goals in the second
half.
Rayamajhi completed his hat-trick in the 63rd
minute when referee Gyani Raja Maharjan pointed to the spot for a ferocious back-tackle of
Raj Kumar Thapa on Deepak Lama.
Rayamajhi was given the chance to complete his
hat-trick and ultimately he did it. With the hat-trick in his name, Rayamajhi joined
Friends’ Club Nirajan Rayamajhi, Galaxian Club Ritesh Khadka, Tribhuvan Club Sahila
Maharjan and Rajiv Nepali of Three Star Club in the hat-trick scoring list.
And in the 75th minute Rayamajhi made it four in
a row as he took Thapa’s pass into his stride and unleashed a fatal rightfooter to
create havoc in NRT’s camp.
The goal placed him behind Nirajan Rayamajhi as
the second highest scorer for a match. Nirajan had scored five goals against Boys’
Sports Club on Saturday, in the maximum number of scores in a match.
In the 39th minute, Thapa and Rajesh Khadgi
showed brilliant move to confuse NRT goalie Prakash Vaidya to wrap-up the match at 5-0.
Khadgi and Thapa, after playing one-touch pass inside the 18-yard area, brought up MMC’s
last goal as Khadgi buried a powerful rightfooter into the net for their place in the
semifinals.
"Lack of practice and injury to two
defenders caused the disaster," said NRT coach Maheshwor Mulmi.
On the other hand, his counterpart Birat Jung
Shah showed satisfaction in his team’s second half performance. "Our boys found
the rhythm actually in the second half and we will continue the same setting," said
Shah whose team will play against the winner of last quarterfinal on Sunday.
Friday’s QF 2PM
Kolkata-XI vs Friends’ Club
Other Stories
|
