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| Maldives took more than 80 minutes to score a goal against Bhutan |
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Dhaka, BANGLADESH – A hard fought Maldives side grabbed a narrow win over Bhutan in their opening game of ongoing South Asian Games. Ali Ashfaq scored the winning goal but Mukhthar Naseer got the best opportunity, but his penalty was only on target to the post.
It was a poor performance from Maldives in the first half and Bhutan started the time wasting as early as the 30th minute but at the end they failed to hold the pressure.
First half’s only chance came in the 6th minute when Ashfaq fired the ball inside the penalty area but denied by the cross bar.
Maldives was very much unsettled in the first half, especially the strikers failed to make full use of the balls supplied to them.
Second half saw a transformed Maldives side with three changes in this half put them very much in control of the game.
In the 77th minute Ashfaq fired a good ball but straight to the keeper, five minutes later he was much closer to the goal but again his shot went straight to the keeper.
The opening goal came in the 83rd minute when Ashfaq picked Shamveel’s pass and sent a thunderbolt beyond Bhutan keeper.
Two minutes later Ashfaq was brought down inside Bhutan penalty area and the referee awarded a penalty. Mukhthar Naseer took the penalty but the ball hit the post and went out for a goal kick.
Just a minute before full time Mukhthar set up the ball perfectly to Fasir but he missed it and the ball only hit his wrong foot.
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