A spirited Bangladesh team beat nemesis Oman 2-1 in their Pool B encounter at the Hero Asia Cup here at the sprawling GBK Sports Arena on Tuesday. It was a sweet victory for the Bangladesh team, as they had lost to Oman in the final of the Asian Games Qualifier only a fortnight ago.
In their match today, the team stuck to Coach Gobinathan Krishnamurthy’s plans, converted from the chances they created and restricted Oman from making potential scoring opportunities.
An early sixth minute goal by Ashraful Islam, through a well-struck penalty corner, set the right momentum for Bangladesh. Even though Oman bounced back with a field goal in the 17th minute through Rashad Al Fazari to equalize 1-1, they could not convert a single goal from the six PCs they created in the match which dented their hopes of a win.
Bangladesh, meanwhile, regained the lead in the 40th minute with yet another PC, well-converted by Md Rakibul. “It definitely feels good to win after losing 6-2 to Oman in the final of Asian Games Qualifier. Today, the boys played much better and Oman too did well today.”
“We are here to improve the way we play and stick to the plan. We have played almost 13-14 games together, I am happy to have created a good bunch here with several young players coming into the ranks,” expressed Coach Gobi.
