Bangladesh conceded a late goal to lose against Iran 1-0 in their second and last Group H encounter of the AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup 2024 qualifiers in Dhaka Sunday.
It was the first-round qualification stage and the result means Iran advanced to the second round with full six points from the group, leaving Bangladesh out of the race.
Head coach Golam Rabbani Choton once again had to field his line-up without skipper and in-form forward Shamsunnahar Jr due to injury.
His side however, began the game positively with Aklima Khatun breaking into the penalty area in the eighth minute before Fatemeh Yousefi blocked her with a fine tackle.
Iran had a good chance to open the scoring two minutes later when Nastaran Mohammadkhany found Bangladesh goalkeeper Rupna Chakma on one-on-one but the effort went wide.
The visiting side created two more chances within a minute after the quarter-hour mark but finishing was not upto the mark.
Shaheda Akter Ripa showed her individual skills at the right flank, first dribbling past a couple of defenders before being fouled outside the box to earn a free-kick.
Forward Negin Zandi netted the all-important goal in the 85th minute following a fast build-up initiated by a long goal kick from the keeper and headed forward by a teammate for Zandi, who skipped past onrushing Rupna before calmly placing into the net.
Bangladesh earlier defeated Turkmenistan 4-0 in their first match while Iran outplayed the same opposition 7-1.