S P O R T S

Kathmandu, Wednesday August 06, 2003  Shrawan 21,  2060.

Three Star regain third position

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Aug 5 : Three Star Club moved to the third spot in the Martyr’s Memorial ANFA San Miguel League Football defeating second from bottom Boys’ Sports Club 3-0 in the last match of the 10th round at Dashrath Stadium today.

The last round of the 66-match league starts Wednesday with Manang Marshyangdi Club already clinching the title in the 10th round. Mahendra Police Club are well-placed at the second spot and will entertain Jawalakhel Youth Club (JYC) in the last round.

Three Star Club have a tough match against fallen giants Rani Pokhari Corner Team (RCT) in the last day of the league. A loss for MPC and win for Three Star would help the Lalitpur-based club to secure the second spot. Likewise, Naxal need more than two dozens of goals against Boys’ Sports to come out from relegation which is almost impossible.

Three Star’s Surendra Tamang struck twice while set a goal to Santosh Sahukala in the lopsided match. With today’s double strikes, Surendra took his goal tally to 12 in the league behind leading goal scorers Ramesh Budathoki and Basanta Thapa and second highest scorer Jibesh Pandey. Budathoki and Thapa scored 14 goals each while Sankata talismanic striker Jibesh Pandey has netted 13 goals so far.

Three Star, fighting for the second place in the league, were on the target as early as in the second minute into the match. Brilliant Surendra Tamang supplied a well-executed pass to Santosh Sahukala who did not commit any mistake and put his team ahead.

The early lead helped Three Star to play confidently but they failed to add more goals in the entire first half. "They played beyond our expectations," coach Dhruba KC told The Kathmandu Post.

Three Star were looking to score a plethora of goals as MPC enjoy better goal difference than Three Star. "We are confident that we can beat RCT in the last match but the JYC-MPC match would decide our fate," KC added. Three Star created flurry of lethal attacks in the second half but brilliant goalkeeping from Boys’ Sports goalie captain Rajiv Shrestha kept their effort at bay most of the time before in-form Tamang finally found the net himself. Attacking defender Narayan Manandhar set the ball to Tamang and the latter converted a goal from acutest of the angles at the right to double the score at 2-0.

A solo effort a minute from time by Tamang ensured Three Star’s convincing victory in the match. Sahukala set Tamang an ideal ball and Tamang dodged three defenders before slotting home the late goal past goalie Rajiv Shrestha.

Boys’ Sports’ Birat Thapa got a golden chance seven minutes after the first half when Three Star were leading by a goal but he squandered the chance firing it wide. Susan Bhandari gave the ball to Thapa inside the penalty area but Thapa faltered while directing the ball inside the open post. "Only wildest of mathematical probability is against us otherwise we are totally at the safe zone so boys played aggressively today," Boys’ Sports coach Rajesh Manandhar said after the match. "We were facing a tough team of the league so 3-0 margin is okay."