A jammed packed day here on the penultimate day of the 14th Ascent Cup as teams lined up to play their respective Plate Pre-Quarter Finals, Plate Quarter Finals, Bowl Pre-Quarter Finals, Bowl Quarter Finals, and Cup Semi Finals.
The highlight of the day was easily between reigning champion Bando Design's game against IIDFC, as the game at 7:30pm saw a full house.
Bando were in full lethal mood to secure the game as they had seven shots on target inside four minutes of the game.
However, IIDFC keeper kept them at bay.
Bando's barrage of attacks did not stop as they desperately tried to get ahead in the game.
And finally, in their 11th attempt on the goal, they went up.
As has been the trend of this Cup, the game started with Polar conceding a goal and then pulling one back in the counter-attack, all within the first 90 seconds of play.https://t.co/9xSX83Zhil#FOOTBALL #BANGLADESH #BANGLADESHFOOTBALL #BFF #ASCENTCUP #ASCENT #CUP #POLAR #DT
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) July 31, 2019
As the pressure of the semis crept up, frustration from IIDFC's players showed as they kept losing possession.
Bando went into the break with a 2-0 lead and added one more soon after half time to all but ensure a place in the Cup final.
However, a late surge from IIDFC saw them pull two goals back.
But it was a tad too late and Bando went past IIDFC with a 3-2 score.
Earlier in the day, Securex continued in their red hot form and put seven past Nagad with a clean sheet, while National Finance (NFL) with the help of their skipper Taz secured their empathic 7-1 win against the University of South Asia.
NFL's Saiful scored a hat-trick.
#Goal rain at last day of group stage https://t.co/i0LBLEiieB
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) July 29, 2019
In the Bowl Quarter Finals, Securex, the security partner of 14th Ascent Cup took on NFL - both coming in hot form netting seven past their rivals.
NFL took the lead with a crazy counter-attack.
But that did not last as Securex leveled soon after.
Teams went on to the break locked in 1-1.
Next 10 minutes saw seven goals and one clear winner.
Securex.
Whatever their half time talk was, it worked to the tee as the swatted NFL with a convincing 7-2 win.
#Ascent #Cup hots up on day eight https://t.co/YPKUm7laXQ
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) August 1, 2019
In the other Plate quarters, BProperty went through in the shootout after being tied 2-2 during the regulation time, inching pass Bangladesh University with a 3-2 scoreline.
Petromax also went through with a dominating 7-1 win over Metronet and Concord bowed out with a 0-2 loss to EON group.
The other Cup semi being played out while this report was filed was between Meena Sweets and Comfit.
The curtain of this 10-day event will come down Saturday with the finals of Cup, Plate, and Bowl.