Aashish Lama scored twice as APF Football Club registered their first win of the league with a 3-1 victory over Friends Club in the Qatar Airways Martyr's Memorial 'A' Division League 2021/22 on Monday.
Bikey Tamang gave the lead to APF in the 30th minute and Aashish doubled the team's advantage two minutes later. After a 2-0 halftime lead, APF scored third through Aashish in the 56th minute before Prezen Tamang pulled back for Friends from the penalty spot in the 69th.
It was APF's first win of the season which saw them move up to 11th in the table. Friends, meanwhile, are bottom of the table with two points from five matches.
APF's coach Kumar Thapa said it was an entertaining encounter between the teams battling to move out of relegation zone. "My players are showing signs of improvement and I will be happy to take four points from five matches. Aashish Lama should have had a hat-trick today and we played well," said Thapa.
Friends Mrigendra Mishra said his team was under pressure to win after falling in to the bottom zone but collapsed after the first 25 minutes. "We were good in the first 25 minutes and looked like my players forgot how to play after that. We also lacked a midfielder who can rotate the ball. But we can take solace as we have many matches still to play," said Mishra.
The fifth round of matches concluded on Sunday with Manang Marsyangdi Club (MMC) with a two point advantage over Machhindra Football Club (MFC). The next round will begin from December 24 when APF will play New Road Team (NRT) in the first match at 1 pm. The second match will be between Nepal Police Club and Friends Club at 4:45 pm.
