It was goals galore at the Changlimithang yesterday as Thimphu City defeated Phuntsholing City 13 – nil.
At the back of last week’s defeat to Transport United, Thimphu City had to come back strong. And they did, showing Phuntsholing City why they are the defending champions.
Chencho Gyeltshen was on a scoring spree as he netted six of his team’s 13 goals. Biren Basnet, Tshering Dorji, Karma Shedrup Tshering, Diwash Subba, and Tenzin Namgay were other goal scorers.
“We were asking for a reaction after our last game,” said Vincent Deacon, the Coach of Thimphu City. “I wanted them to go out and score as many as they can, have fun doing it, and just get back to winning ways. So, I am very happy.”
Coach Deacon added that they did work really hard to win the game. “Any team that goes on to a football pitch has a chance of winning. So we trained hard throughout the week, worked on a lot of things- pressing, our set pieces, and defending corners. So, we didn’t take it lightly. I think that’s why we won by so many.”
The Manager of Phuntsholing City, Tandin Penjor said the team does have good players but they didn’t get much time for trainings and this, he said, made the difference.“Fitness wise, we were not really up to the mark. On top of that, three of our Indian players could not turn up due to political problems in West Bengal. That’s why we leaked a lot of goals,” he said.
Meanwhile, in Punakha, after defeating Paro United four – one, Ugyen Academy climbed over Thimphu FC to rise to the third sport in the league table. Transport United is leading with three points separating them and Thimphu City who is in second place.
Conceding an average of over eight goals per game, Phuntsholing City is languishing at the bottom of the table.
The national league will now take almost a month-long break to allow the national players to prepare for the match against Palestine.
