Heartbreak for Kings as draw sees them eliminated

Basundhara Kings were unable to qualify for the knockout stage of the AFC Cup after they drew 1-1 with Indian side ATK Mohun Bagan FC on Tuesday.

To secure a place in the knockouts, Kings had no other way but to win. They were on their way to that with a 1-0 lead courtesy of a fine strike from Robson Robinho, but a dubious red card from the referee left them with ten men for the last 45 minutes, where they conceded and had to settle for a draw.

Mohun Bagan topped the group with seven points from their three games, whereas Kings finished second with five.

Needing a win, Kings were dominant from the very start as Mohun Bagan struggled against their high pressing game. They almost went ahead in the 13th minute, but Topu Barman’s header was cleared from the goalline before Raul Becerra’s acrobatic effort came back off the post.

Four minutes later, Mohun Bagan had a brilliant chance of their own as a mistake from Kings defender Khaled Shafiei left David Williams free in the box, who then found Liston Colaco. But with an open goal at his mercy, Colaco missed, and Kings survived the scare.

Ten minutes later, Jonathan Fernandes opened the scoring with a fine strike into the left bottom corner. After getting the ball on the left wing, Fernandes cut inside and produced a pinpoint hit with his right foot to hand Kings a 1-0 lead.

Just before the half-time, a collision between Kings right-back Sushanto Tripura and Mohun Bagan defender Ashutosh Mehta led to a surprising red card for Sushanto. No foul was evident as both the players tried to win the ball, and Sushanto had to leave the field on a stretcher, but the referee still produced a red card.

With a man short, Kings struggled in the second half as Mohun Bagan started to use the vacant right side of the Kings defence. And 16 minutes into the second half, their goal came from that side.

Colaco ran through the left wing to feed David, and the Australian striker had no problem slotting it into the net to make it 1-1.

Kings tried to score again, but they failed to make an impact with ten men. Robinho hit the post in the 84th minute as his cross-turned-shot beat the Mohun Bagan goalkeeper Amrinder Singh but not the pole.

In the last ten minutes, all of Kings’ efforts hit a brick wall and as referee Qasim Matar Ali Al-Hatmi blew the final whistle, the Bangladesh Premier League champions were eliminated.