SAFF: Bhutan’s national football squad ended their last international match of the year with a 3-0 defeat in the hands of the 2003 SAFF champions Bangladesh at the Trivandrum International Stadium in Kerala, India yesterday.

With the qualification hopes over for both the team, the match was more of a consolation for the teams to go home with a win.

Disaster struck in the Bhutanese bench as the team conceded a goal in the 8th minute of the game. The situation got worst for the Dragon Boys when referee Pranjal Banerji of India sent defender Chimi Dorji off for a foul Jigme T Dorjee committed against Hemonta Biswas inside the box.

The penalty shot gave Bangladesh a second goal against Bhutan’s nill.

The Bhutanese side struggled with one man down. Chencho Gyeltshen fiddled with a few opportunities, but could not execute an appreciable finish.

After the game against Maldives on December 24, the game yesterday saw a much-improved Bhutanese side. The team tried holding the ball as much as possible avoiding several miss-passes.

However, the Bengal Tigers were the superior by much.  Shekawat Rony struck again in the 67th minute.

Rony had no problem miss-footing Hari in his territory and completed his brace of the tournament.

The Dragon Boys conceded a total of nine goals in this edition of the SAFF championships.

The team lost 11 international games and conceded 57 goals this year.

Younten Tshedup