Bimal Gharti Magar struck a winning goal in his comeback match after three years as Nepal edged Mauritius 1-0 in the first of the two-match international friendlies at the Dasharath Stadium in Tripureshwar on Saturday.

The 24-year-old forward, who played his last game in national jersey in November 2019 in an international friendly against Myanmar, scored the all-important goal in the 55th minute to net his ninth international goal. First he was axed from the national squad in a disciplinary action before he picked up a serious knee injury.

Though the first half remained a drab affair, both sides created a few decent scoring opportunities after the break. Nepal's winger Anjan Bista remained unfortunate on two occasions, smashing the woodwork in either half. Nepal also registered their first victory at an international friendly at the Dasharath Stadium. They also pulled off their first win in an international friendly after 23 matches, putting a break to their winless run since beating Bhutan in 2011.

Nepal has announced two separate squads for the friendlies including 12 common players in both teams. The victory was pleasing for Nepal's Kuwaiti coach Abdullah Almutairi, whose side would compete in the third round of the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers in June.

"The players played from their hearts. The main difference between the two sides was the physique," said Almutairi, referring to the strong physique of Mauritius players. "The victory is very important for the AFC Asian Cup [Qualifiers]. But we made many mistakes as we missed many scoring opportunities and gave opponents three scoring chances due to defensive errors."

The first half saw both sides struggling to create clear scoring opportunities. Striker Gharti Magar ended up volleying straight at goalie Kevin Jean-Louis’ hand in the middle of the first half, with only the shot stopper in his way.

Mauritius replied through winger Adrien Francois but his close-range shot in Steven Ashley Nazira's pass was gripped by goalie Kiran Limbu, also the team captain. Four minutes before the interval, defender Devendra Tamang headed above the bar in Sunil Bal's cross.

Winger Bista squandered a scoring opportunity in the first-half stoppage time as he ended up shooting wide from a close range with only goalie Jean-Louis in his way. Visiting Mauritius threatened Nepal in the very first minute after restart as midfielder Fernando Jackson's low ball strike from the edge of the area struck the upright.

Gharti Magar broke the deadlock after he cleverly beat an offside trap to collect a lofted pass from winger Bista and dodged custodian Jean-Louis with his strike to send the ball to the back of the net.

Nepal came closer to scoring in the 75th as Bista's powerful header in Jagjeet Shrestha's freekick smashed the bar. Two minutes later, Bista again hit the woodwork as his strike at the far post landed on the upright and Shrestha's goal-bound header in the rebounder was punched to safety by goalie Jean-Louis.

Goalkeeper Kiran Limbu rescued Nepal moments later as he grabbed defender Jonathan Speville's bouncing header in a corner delivery by Bravish Rasdarising.

Apart from Gharti Magar, defender Devendra Tamang and mdifelder Jagjeet Shrestha marked comeback to the national fold. Tamang last time played against Kuwait in Bhutan in 2019 during Asian Cup and World Cup joint qualifiers before he picked up an injury. Shrestha's last appearance for Nepal was in 2015 SAFF Championship before he moved to Australia. Midfielders Sudip Gurung and Aakash Buda Magar also marked their debut in the national fold as late second half substitutes.

Mauritius coach Tony Francois rued the absence of his four players isolated from the squad due to the coronavirus. "It was the first match after two and a half years due to Covid-19 outbreak. Nepal are a very good team. Nepal's goalkeeper performed very well despite our effort to score. The four players, who missed the game today, will play in the next game," he said.

The second friendly is scheduled for Tuesday.