Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) made a triumphant start in the Lalit Memorial U-18 Football Tournament with a 2-1 victory over Jawalakhel Youth Club (JYC) on Tuesday. 

It was JYC who took the lead in the match through Sushant Chaudhary before Abhishek Rijal and Prezen Tamang struck to hand their team a come-from-behind victory. 

Despite being under pressure, JYC went ahead against the run of play through Chaudhary in the 25th minute. Army kept exerting more pressure and they finally levelled just ahead of the half time with a six-yard header from Rijal in the 45th minute.

JYC had few chances in the second half but TAC keeper Arpan Karki kept them at bay with some fine saves. With JYC running out of luck, TAC finally gained the upper hand in the 80th minute after Tamang latched on to a cross from Suman Aryal to head home the winner. 

TAC coach Chakra Tamang knew where it all went wrong for side. “The players in the squad are individually very good, and that was the problem today. They took the game too lightly, thinking they would easily win,” said Tamang. His JYC counterpart Naresh Thapa said his side was pushed behind on fitness issues.  

“We had a very good start scoring in the early moments of the game, but as the match wore my players looked tired,” said Thapa.