Kathmandu: A ten-man Lalitpur City secured a heroic 2-1 victory over Dhangadhi FC to enter the final of Nepal Super League (NSL), a franchise football tournament, at the Dasharath Stadium, Saturday.   

Kervens Belfort and Papa Ihou Kebe were on target for Lalitpur, the defending champions, who played with a man-down for most of the period in the Qualifier 1. George Prince Karki hit backe for Dhangadhi with all goals coming after the restart.

Dhangadhi will now get another chance for the final in the Qualifier 2 with the winners of Pokhara Thunders and FC Chitwan. 

Manikumar Lama was shown a straight red in the 17th minute he appeared to have collided with Mohamed El Jaaouani before prompting referee Umesh Bidari to send him off. 

Lalitpur broke the deadlock in the 57th with a curling freekick from the edge by Haitian forward Kervens. Substitute Geroge Prince restored parity five minutes later with a stunning strike from the six-yard box. Coming a minute earlier replacing Dipesh Rai, the forward applied a quick strike as Sergio Barboza’s corner fell to him following a poor header clearance by Lalitpur captain Ananta Tamang. 

Lalitpur restored a goal cushion in Papa Ihou solo effort. The Senegalese sprinted the ball almost from the centre before unleashing a 30-yard scorcher to send the ball past three defenders and goalie Walied Birou.   

There was a tensed finish after Dhangadhi defender Caicedo and Lalitpur’s Pape Diakite were shown red cards following a second yellow after the final whistle. Lalitpur captain Ananta was also shown the yellow. 

FC Chitwan and Pokhara Thunders will vie in the eliminator match of playoffs on Sunday.