Sports
Three Star throw Jhapa out of title race
Three Star ended Jhapa’s hopes of claiming the Red Bull National League with a slim 1-0 victory at the Anfa Complex in Satdobato on Saturday.Three Star ended Jhapa’s hopes of claiming the Red Bull National League with a slim 1-0 victory at the Anfa Complex in Satdobato on Saturday.
The win put Three Star back to the top of the table with 29 points from 14 matches, a lead that Jhapa cannot overhaul. Jhapa are fourth in the table with 24 points with just one match left to play in the league. Tribhuvan Army Club are second in the table with 27 points from 14 games, while Manang Marshyangdi Club, with 13 matches, are third with 25 points.
In the tough closing stages of the league, Three Star are left to play Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club, who are still in the hunt at fifth spot with 24 points from 23 matches, and play Manang on the last day on October 17. On the contrary, TAC have relatively easy draws against Nepal Police Club (NPC) and second from the bottom Lumbini. MMC play pit bottom Morang (on Sunday) and NPC before facing Three Star.
APF play Far-western FC on Sunday where a victory will keep them alive in the title race but they need other results in the tournament to go their way. Their last match of the league is scheduled against Jhapa. Three Star, to their part, cannot afford to drop a point from this point of the tournament considering the easier opponents TAC are left to face.
In the match on Saturday, Jagjeet Shrestha’s 69th minute strike separated the two teams. With both sides squandering ample of opportunities in the first half, Shrestha struck with a powerful swerving shot after Victor fed him inside the area rounding off three defenders in the build-up.
Three Star coach Rajendra Tamang said his side’s focus will now be completely on the league title. “It was an important win for us as were without some key players due to injuries. We were dull in the first half but the boys came back hard in the second. We need to repeat the same performance (Saturday’s second half display) in our remaining two matches to win the title,” said Tamang.
Jhapa coach Bhagirath Ale was dejected after his team threw away a solid chance of winning the league despite clinging on to the top until it was resumed after the April 25 earthquake. They lost both of their key matches in Kathmandu against MMC (3-2) and Three Star.
“My players were not at their best today. We lacked some good decision which ultimately cost us the whole match. We are out of the title race but we will give our 100 percent in the match against APF,” said Ale.