Versatile substitute Saad Uddin placed the ball in between the legs of the Maldives goalkeeper Shareef Hussain in injury time to rescue visiting Bangladesh in the first leg of the FIFA World Cup and AFC Asian Cup joint qualification round.
The much needed goal helped Bangladesh come from behind to play out a creditable 1-1 draw with the hosts at Maldives National Stadium in Male Thursday.
The men in red and green, despite the absence of three key players in keeper Anisur Rahman Zico, defender Topu Barman and young attacker Sheikh Morsalin, created at least three chances with Foysal Ahmed Fahim alone seeing his efforts go wide, over or hit the side netting.
The home side also had a couple of opportunities in either half, including one saved by netminder Mitul Marma to deny the Maldives captain Ali Fasir on one-on-one, before substitute Nazeem Hassan opened the scoring with an opportunist strike in the 87th minute.
Saad, who can also play as fullback and winger, came off the bench to relieve the growing concerns of the visitors with a perfect finish from close range after being set up by Rakib Hossain from the left side.
It was Saad’s second international goal after netting his first during a World Cup qualifying match against India at Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata four years ago.
Debutants Mitul and defender Shakil Hossain and forward Fahim replaced suspended national trio Zico, Topu and Morsalin respectively in the starting XI.
Zico, Topu and Morsalin are serving a temporary suspension dished out by Bashundhara Kings after being accused of breaching discipline following the club’s AFC Cup match against Maziya in Male last month.
The Bengal Tigers will host the Maldives in the return leg at the Kings Arena Tuesday.
In their most recent meeting at the 2023 SAFF Championship in India, Bangladesh, ranked 189th in the FIFA rankings, beat the Maldives, placed 155th, 3-1 in the group stage.