Birgunj United rekindled their bid to make the playoff stage of the Nepal Super League with a 4-1 shellacking of defending champions Kathmandu Rayzrs at the Dasharath Stadium in Kathmandu on Thursday.

William Opoku Asideu scored a hat-trick and second-half substitute Sunil Khadka pulled one off for Birgunj as Sanoj Shrestha’s side recovered from a one-goal deficit to complete a remarkable comeback that sent them up to sixth position in the table.

Kathmandu were looking to crawl back inside the top four after being dropped to the fifth position following Jhapa’s stunning 2-0 victory against Dhangadhi on Wednesday.

It appeared Bal Gopal Maharjan’s men would run the show when they took the lead through a lightning counter attack in the 20th minute.

Tijodinov Komiwon was the engineer of the counteroffensive. Kathmandu goalkeeper Anjal Shrestha grabbed a corner and quickly released Komiwon who showed great run to race into the Birgunj half before switching flanks to exploit the opponent defence. Hishub Thapaliya then combined with Dipesh Gurung and Kuldip Karki before setting up Nkengue Juniour with a back heel and the Cameroonian placed the ball into the far corner leaving Deep Karki helpless.

Kathmandu were presented with another golden opportunity to settle the game minutes before the break when they were awarded a spot kick won by Thapaliya. But Shokhrukh Makhmudkhozhiev failed to convert it, courtesy of a brilliant save from Karki.

The miss proved a curse for Kathmandu as Birgunj profited from it to equalise in the sixth minute of added time when they were also awarded a penalty after Andres Nia handled the ball inside the area.

William Opoku stepped up and did not miss.

The recovery suddenly shifted the tide and Birgunj completed the resurgence immediately after the break.

Sunil Khadka was the target man. Obed Osuwu made a well-timed run to find a long pass from Dipenk Raj Singh, fooled Kingue Oliver with a dummy move before shooting from a tight angle. But Anjal gave the ball away and super-sub Khadka took full advantage of the goalkeeping error to poke home and give Birgunj control of the game.

“After we equalised at the death of the first half, our plan was to score a winner because a draw would be fruitless if we were to fight for the top four spot,” said Birgunj captain Karki, whose penalty save set the tone for Birgunj to claw their way back into the game. “We scored and more came. The team performed well. Hopefully, we will pull off another win in our last match.”

Birgunj were mesmerising throughout the second half, casting spells of their new-found magic and torturing the defending champions.

Birgunj were at the bottom of the table before Thursday and out of nowhere they were subjugating one of the tournament favourites.

Asiedu then put the icing on the cake adding the third goal of the game in the 56th minute heading in a corner from Sushil Lama.

Kathmandu were shell-shocked and unable to construct a recoup against a team they were supposed to grind down.

And Opoku put the game to bed a minute later with his individual third, dinking a chip over Kathmandu goalkeeper Shrestha, who backtracked but failed to stop the further disaster.

“I was confident I could score today,” said Asideu, who now leads the goal-scoring tally with five goals.

The race for playoffs has now gone down to the wire. The result leaves Kathmandu—on nine points—with a daunting task as they face third-placed Lalitpur City, who will also be looking to confirm their qualification on the final day of group stage. Lalitpur have 10 points.

Jhapa, also on 10 points, have a much easier fixture against Chitwan, who have already been eliminated.

Birgunj have eight points and still have a chance to progress if they win against Butwal Lumbini and other results go in their favour.

So far, Pokhara Thunders are the only team to have confirmed their top-four finish, securing their ticket to the playoffs.

Dhangadhi are second with 12 points but they are still not safe. They face leaders Pokhara in a tricky fixture on Friday.