DHAKA: Nepal Police Club striker Jumanu Rai scored the 79th-minute equaliser to hand Nepal a 1-1 draw over the defending champions Maldives in the sixth South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship here at the Bangabandhu Stadium today.

This was the first ever time in the tournament’s 13-year history that Nepal forced a draw with Maldives. Nepal were on the losing end in all four previous encounters against the opponent in previous editions. Nepal last defeated Maldives 2-1 in the eighth SAF Games in 1999.

Nepal made a nervous start but were a better team in the second half, which produced both the goals. Ahmed Thoriq capitalised on a defensive lapse to put the defending champions ahead in the 61st minute.

Nepali defenders left Thoriq unmarked to concede the goal. However, the NPC forward Rai headed home his seventh international goal in the 79th minute following a pass from Yogesh Shrestha, who made his international debut after replacing Vijay Gurung a moment earlier.

Nepal were unlucky not to have collected all three points as they missed couple of chances after Rai netted the equaliser. Nepal had a wonderful opportunity to beat the opponent for the first time in the SAFF Championship but Rai’s goal in the 83rd minute was adjudged offside. Maldives goalkeeper Mohmed Imran also denied Nepal a certain winner in the second half injury time. The i-League outfit Shillong Lajong forward Anil Gurung curled a powerful strike from 25 yards but Imran acrobatically punched the ball away for a corner.

Nepali defenders did a tremendous job in holding back Maldivian Asian Player of the Year nominee Ashfaq Ali. Nepali custodian Bikash Malla denied Maldives on couple of occasions, notably in the 36th minute when he foiled Jamil Mohamed’s powerful strike.

Nepal’s coach Krishna Thapa praised his boys’ performance but expressed disappointment over the decision to disallow the goal. Thapa was the member of the Nepali team that won the 1984 SAF Games gold medal. Thapa had also scored a brace in their 4-0 rout over the same opponent during the tournament.

Thapa was confident to put up even better show against India and Afghanistan after observing the state of the pitch. “This is no longer the team people back home know. We have made a drastic change in our team,” said the coach.

New Road Team (NRT) defender Sagar Thapa was also happy with the way his team played against Maldives today. Sagar was handed over the captain’s duty after regular skipper Rakesh Shrestha was left out of the squad due to illness.

Thapa’s counterpart Hungarian Istvan Urbanyi said the first match would always be difficult. “We failed to perform to out potential,” said the Maldives coach blaming his senior players for lack of commitment.

In the other match, Je Je Lalpehula scored in the 86th minute as four-time winners India downed Afghanistan 1-0.

Stats of the match

Nepal Maldives

1 Goals 1

4 Shots on target 4

5 Shots off target 5

1 Yellow Cards 0

0 Red Cards 0

12 Fouls committed 8

5 Corners 3

2 Off sides 0

3 Substitutions 2