Football

Bangladesh continued their winning run in the SAFF Women’s Championship as they thrashed Bhutan 8-0 on Friday to book their place in the final.

Bangladesh have now extended their streak to four wins in the competition. They will meet the winners of the Nepal-India match in the summit clash o Monday.

Bangladesh, entered the match as favorites, showed no mercy to the Bhutanese side playing in their first semi-final in the tournament.

MS Jahan Shopna started the demolition job as early as the second minute. She gave Bangladesh the lead after dribbling past Bhutan goalkeeper Sangita Monger who came outside her six-yard box. 

Shopna suffered an injury and was replaced by Ritu Porna Chakma in the 16th minute.

Monger found herself out of position again in the 18th minute and Bangladeshi captain Sabina Khatun punished her score the first of three for a 2-0 lead.

Bangladesh were breaching the Bhutanese defence at will and in the 30th minute, Shrimoti Sarkar made it 3-0, scoring on a cross from Ritu Porna Chakma.

Bhutan tried hard to break the Bangladeshi shackles, but without success.

Chakma, who replaced injured Shopna, scored in the 35th minute on her second on the rebound after the initial shot was blocked by Bhutan goalkeeper Sangita Monger.

The game went into half time at 4-0.

Bangladesh started the second in the similar vein as the first. Captain Khatun added her second of the afternoon in the 54th minute and defender Masur Parvir made it 6-0 in three minutes later.

With Bangladeshi slowed their attacking rate, Bhutan made another attempt in search of a goal exchanging a string of short passes.

But Bangladesh looked dangerous whenever they had the ball. Against the run of play Tohura Khatun found the net in the 87th minute to extend their lead to 7-0.

Then captain Khatun capped things off in style, scoring her third of the match to lead Bangladesh into their second final. They play the winners of the Nepal-India for the title on Monday.