Thimphu City and Ugyen Academy are the only two teams that have appeared in every edition of National/Premier League since 2012. As a result, no other fixture in the elite league has been played more than the game between the champions and runners up of 2020.
Reds have enjoyed eight wins and four draws in 18 games against our next opponents. Same fixture last season ended 1-1 as skipper Tshering Dorji cancelled Dillip Mongar’s opening. Thimphu City dropped points only on two occasions throughout their title-winning campaign in 2020; both were against Ugyen Academy. The 3-2 defeat for visitors at Punakha in the final game was the other one. Our new number 24, Karma Sonam, scored the winning goal for his former side in the dying minutes.
Regardless of previous encounters, Ngawang Dhendup and his boys will be aiming for nothing less than three points, with the other contenders keeping them on their toes. With seven wins and 48 goals in eight games, the spirits at the Thimphu City camp are high. This will also be an excellent way to wrap up the first round of the title defence campaign.
Opponents‘ Form
UA has had a difficult start to the season, winning only four of their first eight games. The club suffered an opening day defeat for the first time since losing 2-1 to Drukpol in December 2012 in the 2012/13 season. Transport United ran 6-0 riot over the visitors in their first game this season, marking it their worst defeat since the inception of new league format in 2012. Away days have not been pleasant for them with three of their four defeats occurring away from home thus far.
On a bright side, UA has started to pick up points, winning two games in last three. Except for the opening day loss, they have closely contested all of their other games and only need a little luck to turn things around. With the exception of the Transport game, they have conceded only six goals and kept three clean sheets in their last seven outings.
