Holders Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) stormed into the quarter-finals of the Lalit Memorial U-18 Football Championship with a match to spare after a 4-1 win over New Road Team (NRT) 4-1 at the Anfa Complex in Satdobato on Tuesday. 

The third win in a row ensured the departmental giants finish five-team Group ‘A’ on top with nine points. NRT are second with six points after completing their group matches. In another match of the same group, Machhindra FC opened their accounts with a 1-1 draw against Lumbini FC. The draw after third match was, however, not sufficient for Machhindra to remain in contention for quarter-final as they crashed out with a match in hand.

Machhindra remain at the bottom of table with one point while NRT (6 points), Lumbini (4 points) are the only other teams in contention for remaining one spot for the quarter-finals. Saraswati (3 points) can go level on points with second placed NRT if they beat Lumbini in their last match on Thursday. But they can’t progress to knockout on the basis of head-to-head record with NRT since they were beaten 1-0 by the former.

In the early kickoff, Susan Lama and Bibek Chaudhary scored a brace each for TAC. Susan put TAC ahead in 21st minute but Ranjit Pudasaini levelled the scores two minutes later. Susan restored the TAC lead in the 28th minute before Bibek extended it by scoring in the 85th and 88th minute. In another match, Machhindra appeared on course for victory after taking the 11th minute lead through Manish Sedai. But Lumbini equalised in the 89th minute with a goal from Mohan Thapa.