Bhutan begins with lost at SAFF U19

Bhutan has lost to Nepal by 3-1 in the inaugural match of the First SAFF U-19 Championship held at in Lalitpur, Nepal.

Bimal Gharti Magar scored a hat-trick and missed a penalty from Nepal’s side.

Bimal, who is also a member of the national team, scored two goals in the first half and added one in the second half to guide Nepal to a convincing win over Bhutan in front of more than three thousand home crowd, while Sonam Tobgay scored a consolation goal for Bhutan in the Group A opener.

Bimal gave Nepal an early advantage in the 10th minute as he scored after beating three defenders of Bhutan.

The joy was short-lived though as Bhutan leveled the score within one minute with Sonam’s goal. Sonam beat goalkeeper Sojit Gurung taking advantage of mistakes committed by Nepalese defenders.

Bimal was back in the spotlight once again as his shot from nearly 25 yards gave Nepal a 2-1 lead in the 30th minute.

Bhutan’s goalie Tobgay saved several shots from Nepalese players thus reducing a damaging loss. Bhutan also missed a perfect chance to take the lead in the fifth minute as Sonam’s shot was denied by Nepali goalkeeper Sojit.

Nepal created numbers of chances in the second half as well but added only one goal.

Bimal completed his hat-trick in the 62nd minute scoring from close range utilising Tej Tamang’s pass from the centre.

Bhutanese coach Chokey Nima appreciated the efforts made by Bhutanese team and praised Nepalese team’s performance and said that his players were not as quick as Nepalese forwards.

“Nepal played good and composed game. Our defenders were not as quick as Nepalese forwards,” he commented.

Bhutan will play its second match against Bangladesh on Saturday.