The match turned out to be one of the most exciting contests of the ongoing super league round as Three Star was eyeing victory to extend its lead to eight points and inch closer to the title while MMC was looking to cut the gap on the leader to two points.[break]
Santosh Sahukhala struck from the box in the 15th minute of the match to put Three Star ahead but MMC´s African recruit Fils Sergio Chico equalized eight minutes later. Otherwise, the match was evenly poised.
Sahukhala sent the ball home taking advantage of a misunderstanding between advancing MMC goalkeeper Emmanuel Dare and defender Bikash Singh Chhetri while trying to clear a goal kick from Three Star goalkeeper Kiran Chemjong.
Chico leveled the scores in the 23rd minute as he headed home a long-range free-kick taken by Nabin Neupane.
A combination of photos shows MMC scoring goal against Three Star. (Photo: Chandra Shekhar Karki)
Anil Gurung had a chance to put MMC ahead in the 25 minute but the team captain´s powerful shot from the edge went wide. Shiva Shrestha also shot wide in a pass from Sulav Maskey in the 32nd minute.
In the 41st minute, MMC suffered a scare but goalkeeper Dare blocked all the attempts from Three Star players Adewumi Femi, Victor Amoebi and Bikram Lama in a goalmouth melee in a corner off Biraj Maharjan.
Dare made a full-stretched dive to deny Sahukhala in a one-on-one situation in a pass from Femi in the 53rd minute while Femi shot an acute cross from Victor wide in the 64th minute.
In the dying moments of the match, unmarked MMC forward Chico failed to connect with the ball after Anil Gurung had provided a sublime cross beating Three Star defender Bishnu Sunuwar.
Mbile Leonel of MMC gets red card after a scuffle with his friend following the match. (Photo: Dipesh Shrestha)
Likewise, Three Star substitute Bishnu Gurung, who replaced Bijay Gurung, shot above the bar in a cross from Bijay Dhimal in a one-on-one situation in the fourth minute of injury time.
Match referee Sudish Pandey showed a red card to MMC defender Mbile Leonel after the final whistle as he manhandled his teammate Sulav Maskey on the ground.
"It was a sad incident. I could not see what happened since I had left the box to attend the post-match conference. I´ll ask the players later," said MMC coach Chhiring Lobsang during the post-match conference.
Following the draw, Three Star has 39 points from 19 matches while MMC has 34 points playing equal matches. New Road Team (NRT) has 32 points from 18 matches.
"MMC is always a good team and the draw has kept us on course for the title, but there are still three matches to go," said Three Star coach Pradeep Humagain. "We want to give all our fans a reason to celebrate in our next match against RCT [Ranipokhari Corner Team]," he added.
Lobsang said that his team played as per expectations but could not produce better result. "We made a mistake and conceded a goal. Though we made a good comeback to equalize, we could not score later," said Lobsang. "I sent in winger Amir Shrestha to replace defender Chhetri and assigned defense duty to Zambo Anatole in the second half. It changed the course of the match but we could not produce real chances," he added.
Lobsang claimed that MMC would still fight for the title despite Tuesday´s draw.
Wednesday´s Match
NRT Vs RCT @ 15:30 NST
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