A solitary goal from Amir Shrestha saw the first upset in the ‘home and away’ league with a visiting team earning three points for the first time. Lumbini are tied on three points with Manang Marshyangdi Club (MMC) and Three Star but stay third on goal difference.

Former MMC player, Amir, fired a perfectly timed volley into the top corner that was out of NPC defenders’ reach. NPC, playing without regular skipper Jumanu Rai and key players Rabin Shrestha and Deepen Shrestha, failed to find the rhythm and were toothless in their opener.

NPC coach Birat Krishna Shrestha admitted his team was not able to play its natural attacking game. “We were not able attack, moved sluggishly and made half-hearted attempts,” said Shrestha. “The result means we cannot afford to lose against stronger opponents,” added the coach.

In a dull match where Shrestha’s goal separated the two teams, Lumbini rather looked sharp compared to the departmental team and were duly rewarded in 85th minute.

Earlier, Shrestha’s 15-yard free-kick was punched by NPC custodian Ritesh Thapa in the 30th minute.  NPC muffed up a chance when Hari Kathayat came close to scoring in the 37th minute but his free header off a pass from Ajit Bhandari hit the cross bar.

Despite the win, Lumbini coach Yam Prasad Gurung was not happy with the performance of his team and said that after suffering two back to back defeats against NPC, his side has learnt their mistakes. “We knew what had gone wrong in the last two matches and worked on it,” said Gurung referring to their losses in the Pokhara Cup and Simara Gold Cup. The coach indicated that his team has areas to improve adding; “My target is to finish in the top four but we need to improve a lot. We will come out stronger in the coming matches.”