Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) confirmed second spot in the Red Bull National League prevailing 3-0 over departmental archrivals Nepal Police Club (NPC) here at the Anfa Complex on Friday.

Already out of the title race, TAC needed a victory to assure at least the second place and goals from Tek Bahadur Budhathoki, Navayug Shrestha and Tanka Basnet eased their task. The Armymen lead the table with 33 points from their maximum 16 matches but Saturday’s title decider between Three Star Club (32 points) and Manang Marshyangdi Club (31) is certain to topple them.

A draw for Three Star will see them tied on 33 points with TAC who fall behind them on ‘away goal’ rule. After a 0-0 draw in their home game at the Dashrath Stadium, Three Star had played a 1-1 draw at the Anfa Complex in what was their away match. MMC, meanwhile, need an outright victory to deny Three Star the title and a stalemate will confine them to third spot.

The ‘home and away’ league, however, was a disaster for NPC who once dominated domestic football and completed a hattrick of Martyrs Memorial A Division League. With inexperienced players and ageing squad, injuries compounded the misery for NPC who finished seventh having accumulated just 13 points from 16 games.

“We are suffering from injury crisis and fielded a half-fit forward today and the result sums up the performance. Playing various tournaments outside valley left us with many injuries and we failed to recover from there on,” said NPC coach Birat Krishna Shrestha.

Budhathoki opened the scoring in the 29th minute when he utilized a pass from skipper Bharat Khawas and placed the ball in between the legs of defender Suraj BK and beating the goalkeeper. Shrestha doubled the lead five minutes after the resumption after beating the offside trap.

The 14th goal from Shrestha makes him the highest scorer of the league so far ahead of Karna Limbu of Jhapa who has 13. Basnet sealed the rout in the 82nd minute as he made a long run with the ball to beat defender Santosh Hemrun before firing home the third goal. TAC coach Meghraj KC was satisfied with his team’s overall performance.

“This actually is a great achievement for the club to finish second in the league. This is a result of the hardwork put in by the players,” said KC.