Bashundhara Kings suffered a 3-2 defeat against former AFC Cup champions Al Seeb Club in their AFC Challenge League Group B opener in Kuwait on Saturday.
Al Seeb were given a testing time by Kings who took the lead at one stage of the game before Abdulaziz Almaqbali’s winner settled the contest.
Backed by a big turnout of their fans at the Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah Stadium, Kings began brightly and forced Ahmed Alrawahi into making a reflex stop from a Dorielton close range attempt in the second minute, reports the AFC.
Al Seeb, however, opened the scoring five minutes later when Nasser Alrawahi snuck behind Rimon Hossain to chest down Arshad Alalawi’s raking pass before steering past Bashundhara goalkeeper Mehdi Srabon.
Bashundhara did not let the goal dampen their spirit with Dorielton again testing the gloves of Alrawahi with a shot on the turn from just out the box in the 16th minute.
Four minutes before half-time, Bashundhara got the reward their play deserved when Saad Uddin fired a shot back into the box which Raphael Augusto controlled perfectly before stroking home the equaliser.
The exciting game continued in the second half with Kings going ahead in the 53rd minute when Dorielton fed Rakib Hossain on the right, with the winger surging in-field before firing a shot from distance that dipped under a diving Alrawahi.
The lead, however, only lasted seven minutes as Al Seeb equalised when Hassan Alajmi’s cross from the right found Zahir Alaghbari at the back post, who slammed his shot into the bottom corner.
Another Alajmi cross in the 77th minute saw Al Seeb claim the win with Ali Albusaidi having the presence of mind to steer the ball towards Almaqbali who volleyed home from the centre of the box.
Al Seeb will look to add another win when they take on hosts Kuwait SC on Wednesday with Mario Gomez’s Bashundhara hoping to bounce back against Lebanon’s Al Ansar FC.