The six-time champion MMC needed a compulsory victory over Police, already league champion with one match in hand, to finish the runner-up. The draw turned out to be a gift for Yeti Airlines Himalayan Sherpa, which wrapped up the league in second position. Had MMC won, Sherpa would have fallen to third position. [break]
The second draw left MMC in third position with 17 points, two points behind Sherpa and four points behind Police. Samsung Jawalakhel Youth Club wrapped up its National League campaign in the fourth place.
The winner, Police, bagged a purse of Rs 2.5 million and secured its place in the AFC President´s Cup. Runner-up Sherpa received Rs 1 million while third-placed MMC and fourth-placed Jawalakhel bagged Rs 500,000 and Rs 300,000 respectively.
In the league´s last match against arch rival Police, MMC dominated the game piling up immense pressure and creating frequent attractive chances. On many occasions, Police goalie Ritesh Thapa´s heroics prevented MMC from scoring.
Unlike MMC, Police without three of its key players including defenders Rabin Shrestha and Suman Subedi and midfielder Parbat Pandey remained busy resisting opponent´s attacks.
Police goalie Thapa made about half-a-dozen saves to deny MMC from scoring. In the 19th minute, Thapa prevented Anil Gurung´s 30-yard strike with long stretch dive and a minute later he cleared ball in one-on-one with Gurung, before Gurung met a pass of Sujal Shrestha in box.
In the 36th minute, Thapa prevented Japanese player Ito Dan´s powerful one-touch strike from box, four minutes after he had caught Gurung´s header. He twice stopped MMC from taking lead in the injury time of first half one each of Sujal Shrestha and Dan.
MMC could have taken lead in the 60th minute, had Dan´s left flank freekick not rebounded off the pole. In the same move, Anil Gurung´s deflection out of scuffle was well defended by Police´s Suraj BK from goalline. Santosh Sahukhala missed a golden opportunity to score in the 90th minute when he shot directly into goalie Thapa´s hand in an open position from penalty spot.
Following the result, Police coach Birat Krishna Shrestha said his side had nothing to lose and the team lacked three regular players. "Our target was to stop MMC from winning the match and we achieved it," the coach said, adding that he is very much happy to lift the title remaining unbeaten. "It is special to lift the title remaining unbeaten," Shrestha said.
RCT beats NRT
In the day´s kick-off, Ranipokhari Corner Team (RCT) defeated New Road Team (NRT) and progressed one spot to seventh while pushing the latter from seventh to eighth position.
African recruit Olawala O Afeez scored the decisive goal for RCT in the drab affair. Afeez made a free-header in freekick of Neeraj Remi Magar to send the ball past the net.
In the dull match, both sides could not create more than a couple of scoring chances. In the 40th minute, Dipesh Thapa Magar´s powerful shot from the box was headed and defended by NRT´s Subash Gurung from goalline. Similarly, Raji Gurung show wide in one-on-one with RCT goalie Prem Kumar Tamang.
With the result, NRT finished eighth with 11 points and RCT seventh with 13 points.
NRT coach Raju Shakya said that his side failed to utilize scoring chances. "The match was not vital either. But, had we achieved the victory, we could have finished fifth." Summing up the overall league, Shakya expressed satisfaction over his team´s performance and vowed to come up with better performance in the next tournament. He however expressed dissatisfaction over star players´ performance. "The senior and star players could not play well."
RCT coach Madhu Karki termed his side´s performance against NRT team´s worst show in the entire league. Summing up his team´s performance in the league, Karki said, "We played better football but failed to achieve good results."
League Statistics
Total goals 117
Average / match 2.60
Clean Sheets 31
Results
Matches 45
Win/defeat 37
Draws 8
Penalties/Cards
Total 10 (3 missed, 7 scored)
yellow cards 108
Red cards 8
Hat-tricks Nawawyug Shrestha (Army) / Isah Kareem (Three Star) / Santosh Sahukhala (MMC)
Highest scorers
7 goals - Nawayug Shrestha (Army)
6 goals - Ganesh Lawati (Sangam)
5 goals - Jumanu Rai (Police) / Santosh Sahukhala (MMC)
4 goals - Isah Kareem (Three Star) / Olawala O Afeez (RCT) / Subarna Samekham (Mitramilan)
Police dominates best awards
Champion Nepal Police Club dominated the awards for best players in four different positions - goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and forward. Police also took the best coach award. Among awards for five sections, Police took home four excluding the award for best defender. Sandip Rai of MMC won the best defender award.
The winner of five different categories were each awarded with a Yamaha Gladiator motorbike worth nearly Rs 200,000.
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