Chonburi, September 17: Despite brilliant effort, Bangladesh went down 3-2 in a five goal thriller against Australia in the last match of group B in the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship at Chonburi, Thailand on Sunday.

Bangladesh were reduced to a ten player team with the sent off of skipper Krishna Rani Sarker at the stroke of the half an hour mark. But the girls fought bravely and took the lead midway through the second half, however conceded the defeat at last.

Bangladesh goalie Mahmuda denied Aussie forward Julia Vignes diving into her feet on a one to one situation in the 6th minute.

However in the 9th minute Aussie midfielder Laura Hughes capitalized a blunder of the Bangladesh defence to put Australia ahead tapping the ball into the net (1-0).

Bangladesh was reduced to ten players in the 31st minute with skipper Krishna Rani sent off. She was shown a direct red card for an off the ball foul on a Aussie player.

The setback, however did not affect the morale of the girls as they restored the parity in the 44th minute. Aussie defender Cecilla Matic brought Swapna down in the danger zone prompting the referee pointing to the spot.
Shamsunnahar converted the spot kick (1-1).

A spirited Bangladesh took the lead through midfielder Monika Chakma who scored off a solo effort in the 72nd minute (2-1).

But a resurgent Australia leveled the scoreline in the 79th minute with forward Kyra Cooney Cross heading a corner home (2-2).

Seven minutes off the final whistle midfielder Sofia Sakalis netted the winner off another corner (3-2).

Bangladesh head coach Golam Rabbani Choton blamed missed opportunities for the defeat. “Today our team played very well and i am satisfied. However, in last 15mins our player missed some opportunities and that’s why we conceded two goals. Also we were one player down. Day by day our team is improving.”

The opposition coach lauded Bangladesh for their brilliant display. “Today Bangladesh played well with 10 players. BD Girls are physically good and worked hard.”