Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Colombo: Suleyman Muhadov was the hat-trick hero for FC HTTU as the Turkmenistan forward netted all three goals in his club's 3-1 victory over Nepal's Manang Marshyangdi Club in the AFC President's Cup Group A match on Monday.
Muhadov (pictured) had begun the scoring on 26 minutes only to see his opener cancelled out by Sujal Shrestha's equaliser 10 minutes later.
But the clinical FC HTTU frontman then netted his second on 76 minutes shortly before Manang defender Deepak Bhusal received his marching orders. And with a man advantage the Turkmen club then made the points safe as Muhadov scored his third in the closing minutes.
"It was a very hard, tough game. The first game in a competition is always very difficult to adapt to the conditions and it took us a while to get into our rhythm," said FC HTTU coach Rowshen Meredov, whose team will take on Sri Lanka Air Force SC on Wednesday with a place in Friday's final against the winner of Group B still to play for.
"In Muhadov, though, we have a very special player, every player in my team says he's the star, he can make a goal from any position so I always keep him on till the final whistle – but, of course, all my players are important to the team.
"Against Sri Lanka Air Force we won't devise any special tactic or strategy against them, we will just look to rest and recover before then, and we'll aim to play our game."
The appearance of midfielder Sulav Maskey in place of forward Diapak Rai was the only change made by Manang coach Nabin Neupane as he lined up in the more defensive 4-5-1 formation he had hinted at following their 2-1 victory over Sri Lanka Air Force in the Group B opener on Saturday.
As a result, much of the game's early possession was with the Turkmen club with the first 20 minutes high on endeavour but low on opportunities as the two sides contested a tightly fought opening.
The first shot on target did not come till the 23rd minute as Nuryagdy Muhammedov's effort from outside the area was fisted clear by Bishal Shrestha in the Manang goal.
Four minutes later, though, the Manang custodian was picking the ball out of his net as Shohrat Soyunov unlocked the Nepalese offside trap with a ball from the back that found Muhadov racing into the penalty area and cushioning a side-footed shot over a back-pedaling Shrestha who was caught off his line.
A goal to the good, FC HTTU began to look the more likely to add a second, but Sujal Shrestha hauled Manang back on to level terms against the run of play on 34 minutes with a drilled finish from the edge of the penalty area that whistled past Nurgeldy Astanov into the opposite corner.
Following the half-time interval, the tempo of the tie dropped as chances grew scarce few but ultimately it was Muhadov again who proved the x-factor for FC HTTU.
With 13 minutes remaining the striker broke free on the left side of the penalty area before flicking the ball over a committed Bishal Shrestha. And although Muhadov saw his lobbed effort denied on the line by defender Jitendra Karki, the forward's alert follow-up header could not be kept out despite the best efforts of Biraj Maharjan.
And it got worse for Manang as just a minute later Bhusal earned a straight red card for a wild and clumsy challenge on Annasahet Annasahedov.
With FC HTTU now comfortably on top a third goal looked on the cards, and Muhadov delivered on 82 minutes, again assisted by Soyunov, as the 20-year-old latched on to the long ball from the back and finished expertly from just inside the penalty area.
"I'm happy for the performance today as FC HTTU are a strong team," said Manang coach Neupane.
"The second goal was the turning point in the game for us, as we had a lot of pressure after that went in and we struggled to get back into the game."