By a Staff Reporter
Kathmandu – The title race of the ongoing Qatar Airways Martyrs Memorial A Division League has become interesting with the completion of the third round matches. However, it would be too early to predict the winner with 10 rounds of matches still remaining.
Satdobato Youth Club lead the points table with seven points in a three-way tie with defending champions Machhindra Football Club and Manang Marshyangdi Club. With equal seven points, Machhindra are second and MMC third on goal difference.
In the third round, Satdobato and Machhindra registered wins while MMC played a 1-1 draw with Sankata.
Just like the top three teams, Sankata, Police and Army who are placed from fourth to sixth positions respectively also have five points each. Likewise, seventh-placed Three Star Club, eighth-placed Birgade Boys Club and ninth-placed Chyasal Youth Club too have garnered four points each.
Similarly, Friends Club, NRT and Himalayan Sherpa Club have two points each. Among the 14 teams vying in the league, the tailenders Jawlakhel Youth Club and APF haven’t scored any points yet. JYC have not even scored a goal in the league so far.
In the third round matches, winners were declared in three matches while four games ended in stalemate. MMC missed a chance to top the table with a 2-2 draw against Sankata. Satdobato defeated APF 4-1 while Army registered a 1-0 win over BBC. Likewise, Machhindra beat JYC 2-0. Friends and Three Star, Chyasal and NRT, Himalayan Sherpa and Police all played 1-1 draws.
Each round of league has seven matches. A total of 18 goals were scored in the third round of the league. The first round had witnessed 16 goals followed by seven goals in the second round.
So far, 41 goals have been scored in 21 matches. Among those matches, 12 ended in victory-loss while nine were draws including three goalless draws.
Altogether 34 players have scored goals in the ongoing league including a hat-trick from Ajayi Martins of Satdobato.
Martyrs Memorial A Division League 2078
First Round – 16 goals
- Friends Vs Satdobato (0-0
- Sherpa Vs Sankata (1-1)
- Chyasal Vs Three Star (0-3)
- BBC Vs APF (3-2)
- Jawlakhel Vs Manang (0-1)
- Army Vs Police (1-1)
- Machhindra Vs NRT (2-1)
Second Round – 7 goals
- Satdobato vs Three Star (1-0)
- Sankata Vs Friends (2-1)
- Chyasal Vs APF (1-0)
- Sherpa Vs Manang (0-1)
- Jawlakhel Vs Police (0-1)
- BBC Vs NRT (0-0)
- Army Vs Machhindra (0-0)
Third Round – 18 goals
- Friends Vs Three Star (1-1)
- Satdobato Vs APF (4-1)
- Sankata Vs Manang (2-2)
- Chyasal Vs NRT (1-1)
- BBC Vs Army (0-1)
- Sherpa Vs Police (1-1)
- Jawlakhel Vs Machhindra (0-2)
Fourth Round
- Manang Vs Friends
- Chyasal Vs Army
- Satdobato Vs NRT
- Sherpa Vs Machhindra
- Three Star Vs APF
- Jawlakhel Vs BBC
Total matches – 21
Total goals – 41
Victory/Defeat – 12
Draws – 9
Goalless Draws – 3
Goal scorers – 34
Hat-trick – 1 [Ajayi Martins (Satdobato) vs APF]
Own goal – 2 [Karan Rawat (Satdobato0 vs APF, Simanta Thapa (Jawlakhel) vs Machhindra]
First half goals – 15
Second half goals – 26
Yellow cards 64 [Nabin Shrestha (Machhindra official), Yugal Kishor Rai (Himalayan Sherpa – coach)]
Red Cards – 1 [ Ronnel Anthony Paul (Friends) vs Satdobato (double yellow cards)]
Penalty goals – 0
Penalty miss – 1 [Bikash Meraglia (vs Three Star)]
Highest goal scorers
- Ajayi Martins – 3
- Dinesh Rai – 2
- Sunil Bal – 2
- Niraj Basnet – 1+1
- Ramesh Bartaula – 1+1
- Suman Lama – 1+ 1
Goal scorers
3 goals: Ajayi Martins
2 goals: Dinesh Rai, Sunil Bal, Suman Lama, Niraj Basnet, Ramesh Bartaula
1 goal: Laxman Ruchal, Tridev Gurung, Rafael Rimgago, Ananta Tamang, Aashish Lama, Bikki Tamang, Suraj Gurung, Dinesh Rajbanshi, Santosh Hemrun, Bivek Basnet, Eric Bista, Sudeep Gurung, Prakash Budhathoki, Fode Fofana, Olawale Afeez, Nathaniel Jude Gracia, Mikchan Tamang, Sushil Rai, Dayananda Singh, Uttam Rai, Franklin Kote Tala, DIpesh Ghale, Bharat Khawas, Bishwas Shrestha and Ranjit Dhimal.
