Abhisekh Rijal struck a hat-trick as ANFA U21 defeated Manipur 3-1 in its third group match of Dr. T.AO North East International NEC U-21 Gold Cup at SAI stadium, Guwahati, India on Saturday. 

This is second consecutive victory for ANFA U21.

Abhisekh Rijal scored the opener in the 19th minute in assist of Anil Maharjan. He utilized Arik Bista's cross in the 30th minute to double the lead.

Songpu Singsit scored a goal in the 54th minute. ANFA U21 was awarded penalty kick after Dhiraj Shrestha was fouled inside box in the 78th minute.  Abhisekh Rijal converted the spot-kick to make the score-llline 3-1 up for ANFA U21.

Hat-trick hero Rijal has been adjudged the man of the match for the second time in a row.

ANFA U21 are grouped with Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura in group B. 



They will play next against Nagaland on February 24 respectively.

Earlier, they suffered defeat at the hands of Meghalaya 3-2 in their first match and thrashed Tripura in the second match.

A total of 11 teams; each team from Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh and eight teams from North East states of India; are competing in the tournament.

(Pic: NSJF)