Three Star Club climbed to top of the Red Bull National League standings with a 5-0 mauling of Lumbini Football Club, while Tribhuvan Army Club hammered Morang FC 7-0 here at the Anfa complex in Satdobato on Sunday.

Olawale Afeez and Jagajeet Shrestha scored a brace each and Amar Dangol added another for the top-tier Lalitpur-based outfit. The results meant, Three Star replaced Jhapa at the top of the points table with 26 points from 13 games, while TAC rose a place up to second with 24 points from 13 matches. Jhapa, who also have 24 points, dropped to third on away goals after tying on 2-2 aggregate with TAC in their home and away fixtures.

It took Three Star 29 minutes to score the first goal through Afeez but that opened the floodgates for the Lalitpur team. Dangol added the second seven minutes later as Three Star went into the break with a two-goal lead. The temperamental midfielder Shrestha, who was later named man-of-the-match, made it 3-0 in the 58th minute. It became 4-0 three minutes later as Afeez scored his second goal of the match. Shrestha then completed the rout of Lumbini adding his second goal and the team’s fifth in the 77th minute.

Three Star coach Rajendra Tamang was satisfied that his team came up with such a complete game in the absence of their influential skipper Sagar Thapa. “Obviously we missed him (Thapa) but then we won handsomely which is a very positive sign for us,” said Tamang, who hopes to keep the winning momentum going.

Lumbini coach Yam Gurung indicated making multiple changes to his squad in next games. “We are not playing as a unit,” said Gurung who also blamed a lack of proper training ground in the Capital for his team’s poor performance.

In an early kickoff, Nawayug Shrestha struck a hat-trick, Bharat Khawas scored twice while Tanka Basnet and Tek Bahadur Budathoki added one goal apiece in Armymen’s 7-0 drubbing of Morang. Chun Bahadur Thapa, who took charge of the TAC in the absence of their coach Megh Raj KC, praised his team’s goal-scoring ability. “We were confident of our win but seeing our players grab almost all the opportunities was a pleasing sight,” said Thapa. KC was serving a one-match touch line ban for a foul mouth tirade against a referee in their previous match.

Khawas opened the scoring early in the fourth minute and added his second 14th minute before being replaced in the 23rd minute. Basnet made 3-0 five minutes before break.

The Army team produced four more goals after the resumption with Shrestha (49th, 56th) scoring twice within the  first 11 minutes. Budathoki joined the goal scoring spree in the 59th minute and Shrestha rubbed more salts to the Morang wound by completing his hat-trick in the 89th minute.