A flurry of goals in the Martyrs Memorial ‘A’ Division League match on Tuesday took defending champions Machhindra Club to a thumping 7-3 victory over FC Khumaltar.

The highlight of the game was five goals from the Nigerian forward Olawale Afeez at the Chyasal Stadium in Lalitpur.

In another fixture, high flying Jawalakhel Youth Club were brought down to earth by Tribhuvan Army Club. Jawalakhel scored a 3-1 victory on the artificial turf of ANFA Complex in Satdobato.

Machhindra’s Nigerian forward Afeez became the first player to score a hat-trick in the ongoing league and also climbed atop the scorer list with eight goals under his belt. He is three goals ahead of second highest scorers Dipak Raj Singh Thakuri of Satdobato Youth Club and Messouke Oloumou of Khumaltar.

It was also the second victory in a row for coach Kishor KC in as many games as the incharge for Machhindra, who had stumbled in their first two matches, losing 3-1 to Jawalakhel and 2-0 against Army.

But they responded in style after the arrival of veteran KC, beating Sankata 2-1 in their last game on Sunday before their biggest margin win in the ongoing league. With their third win of the season, Machhindra climbed to the sixth position and came level on points with the fifth placed Army on 12 points.

Jawalakhel, who faced their second defeat, remained in second position on 14 points, one point behind leaders Manang Marshyangdi Club who have a match in hand. Khumaltar, who succumbed to a fifth defeat at the start of the eighth round action, are placed 10th with seven points in the 14-team contest, which saw the bottom two sides relegated to the second division at the end of the contest.

Machhindra came into the game with an offensive approach from the onset and were 3-0 up by the interval. Olawale opened the scoring in the 25th minute and Nepal's international striker Bimal Gharti Magar opened the floodgates with a second goal, four minutes later.

The Nigerian forward scored his second individual goal in the first half stoppage time and completed his hat-trick 11 minutes into the second half.

Cameroonian forward Messouke Oloumou cut the deficit in the 61st minute. But Afeez restored their four-goal lead a minute later and netted his fifth goal of the match in the 67th minute.

Stephane Binong netted the second goal for Khumaltar in the 76th minute from a penalty spot after their captain Rejin Subbba was fouled by Utsab Rai inside the area. But the official match report of ANFA ruled out that the goal was scored from the spot.

Oloumou made it 3-6 for Khumaltar in the 81st minute before Bijay Bhujal sealed a comprehensive victory for Machhindra, scoring three minutes from time.

In another fixture, Army captain Gillespye Jung Karki, Nawayug Shrestha and Sudil Rai struck targets against Jawalakhel.

Karki opened the scoring as early as in the 17th minute and went into the break with one-goal cushion. The departmental side doubled the advantage in the 55th minute after Nawayug Shrestha converted from the spot. Sunil Khadka cut the deficit for Jawalakhel seven minutes later and pushed for the equaliser. But substitute Sudil Rai, who replaced Dinesh Henjan in the 33rd minute, sealed the victory with a third goal for Army in the 80th minute.