Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) claimed the inaugural edition of Lalit Memorial U-18 Football Tournament with a 3-1 tiebreaker victory over Lumbini FC on Wednesday.

The final was pushed to tiebreaker after both teams failed to break the 1-1 deadlock after90 minutes of regulation time. Abhishek Rijal, Dorje Tamang and Prezen Tamang scored for TAC in the tiebreaker, while Dinesh Henjan and Anosh Magar had their shots saved.

TAC were indebted to their goalkeeper Arpan Karki for the title having saved the shots from Lumbini skipper Janom Man Ligal, Mandeep Thapa and Tejendra Pun. Ranjit Tamang was the only player to shoot on target for Lumbini. Along with the title, TAC also grabbed a cash purse of Rs 300,000 and runners-up Lumbini took home Rs 150,000.

Lumbini had inflicted TAC a humiliating 6-0 defeat in the group stage and they began the final with an early sixth minute lead through Ligal who headed home a corner. TAC consistently exerted pressure on Lumbini and they finally pulled back the equaliser through a 75th minute penalty from Prezen Tamang.

TAC coach Chakra Tamang said his plan for the game worked really well. “My boys were nervous in the early stage of the game because we had conceded heavily against them in the league stage. We switched positions in the second half and that worked for us,” said Tamang.

The tournament was organised in the memory of Lalit Krishna Shrestha, the former acting president of the All Nepal Football Association. Shrestha passed away at his home last year due to electrocution.

Individual awards

Coach    Chakra Tamang (TAC)

Forward               Janom Man Ligal (Lumbini)

Defender            Suman Aryal (TAC)

Midfielder           Damodar Chhetri (Lumbini)

Goalkeeper Sushil Basnet (Sankata)