Bangladesh kicked off their Saff U-20 Women's Championship 2023 campaign in style after comfortably beating Nepal 3-1 at Birshrestha Shaheed Sepahi Mustafa Kamal Stadium in Dhaka Friday.
Aklima Khatun and skipper Shamsunnahar Jr netted one each for the hosts before going to break with a 2-1 lead before Shaheda Akter Ripa sealed victory with a spectacular strike in time added on.
The girls in red and green dominated most of the opening half and created chances one after another in the first 15 minutes.
Striker Aklima struck with only three minutes into the clock as the prolific scorer broke into the left side of the box to beat onrushing goalkeeper Kabita BK with a brilliant finish.
Shopna Rani had a chance to extend the lead few minutes later but her effort went wide.
The home side doubled the lead two minutes before the quarter-hour mark when Shamsunnahar Jr utilized a poor clearance of a Nepali defender to place the ball into the net.
The Himalayan country pulled one back in the 24th minute following Shamsunnahar Jr's blunder in clearing a cross as Manmaya Damai hit the net with a fine shot.
Shamsunnahar Jr, who is also a vital member of the senior team, left the pitch injured and replaced by Airin Khatun after resumption.
The absence of the leader was felt on the pitch as Bangladesh struggled to create clear-cut chances afterwards.
Nepal also couldn't come up with any real threat to host defence.
Bangladesh had a couple of efforts from free-kicks saved by the Nepalese keeper through Afeida Khandaker in the 53rd minute and Ripa in the 76th.
Ripa, who was given the No 10 jersey, exhibited her skills once more to seal the fate of the game one minute into time added on.
The rising forward from Cox's Bazar unleashed a wonderful strike from the right side of the box that gave the goalkeeper no chance.
Meanwhile in the four-team tournament's inaugural match on the same day, India outplayed Bhutan 12-0.
Bangladesh will face India in the next game Sunday before taking on Bhutan two days later.
RESULT
Bangladesh U-20 women 3 (Aklima 3, Shamsunnahar Jr 13, Ripa 90+1) 1 Nepal U-20 women (Damai 24)
