KATHMANDU, Dec 18: New Road Team (NRT) has equaled its last season’s win record in the very first match of the Qatar Airways Martyr’s Memorial A-Division League 2019-20 as it thrashed Saraswati Youth Club 4-0 in Lalitpur on Tuesday. 

NRT only won one game in the last edition of the league, but has showed major signs of improvement in the first game this season as it scored three second-half goals to add to its first-half tally of one.

The New Road side looked totally dominating from the first whistle, whisking away doubts that it would come top in its first league game of the season. 

Despite the win, two points were deducted from NRT’s three as the ANFA had set a provision of deducting two and one points respectively from the two bottom-placed teams of last season’s league. 

With the appointment of Raju Kaji Shakya as the coach replacing Maheshwor Mulmi, there were high hopes that the team would perform brilliantly against Saraswati. And the team delivered as expected.  

Defender Saroj Shrestha, who was given the man of the match award for his excellent performance, bagged a second-half brace, while foreign players Junior Onguene Nikengue and Jordan Junior Ndemba Owona scored a goal each for the team. 

Nikengue opened the score for New Road with a good header in the 40th minute after captain Prakash Budathoki delivered a corner inside the Saraswati box. 

After the goal, Saraswati was left with a massive task to overturn the deficit in the 45 second-half minutes as the half time ended 1-0 in NRT’s favor. But Saraswati could not handle the attacks of the New Road team, and conceded three more goals.  

Tamang finally scored his first goal of the game in the 69th minute as he headed down a free-kick from Aril Bista to double the lead and put Saraswati under more pressure. 

The game got exceedingly one sided with NRT taking charge of the possession, and keeping Saraswati head coach Pradeep Nepal under pressure as his team could not have a decent chance in the second-half. Saraswati gave away the ball a lot of times with mispasses and failed to hold the ball. 

Tamang completed his brace 10 minutes from time, while Owona sealed a terrific win for the team with a goal in the 90th minute. 

After the game, NRT coach Shakya said that the combination between the two foreign players (Nikengue and Owona) and the first-half goal made it easy for the team. 

“I had a doubt how the foreign players would perform in the first league match, but there was good combination between them and all other players which helped us toward the win,” a delighted Shakya said. 

“We scored the first goal early on and that was a plus point. Without being dominative of the opponent, I would say that we had no fear from them,” Shakya added, “We created more chances in the game and the performance will slowly start to set.”

Meanwhile, Saraswati coach Pradeep Nepal said that there was a lack of communication between the players. 

“We had a major lack of communication with lots of mistakes. There was a buildup to create chances, but the midfielders could not deliver the ball to the forwards,” Nepal added, “We could not field our two foreign players and that hurt us as well.” 

In the other match played on the same day at the Dasharath Stadium, departmental teams Nepal Police Club and Tribhuvan Army Club played the first goalless draw of the season. 

On Wednesday, Three Star Club will face Jawalakhel Youth Club in Lalitpur, while Manang Marshyangdi Club starts its title defense with a game against the third departmental team Armed Police Force (APF) Club at the Dasharath Stadium.

 
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