Bangladesh stick wielders salvage some of their lost pride as they played some brilliant hockey to beat favourites Ghana to finished 5th in the Hockey World League Round-2 on Sunday after a dramatic 4-3 shootout win at the Moulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium on Sunday.
It was a nerve wrecking battle with the host Bangladesh trailing 3-2 till the very last minute. But they never gave it up, to be precise just 20 seconds away from the final whistle, Bangladesh earned a most important penalty corner. Match umpire was forced the match to go beyond the stipulated time and skipper Rasel Mahmud Jimmy made no mistake made it 3-3 to take the match into the shootout.
In the shootout Mamunur Rahman Chayan and Roman Sarker failed to find the net. Mainul Islam Kowshik, Krisna Kumar and Rasel Mahmud Jimmy succeeded to score taking the shootout to sudden death.
With the mounting pressure Krishna Kumar kept his cool and went to score the cherished winner as the stadium erupted into mass celebration as Bangladesh won 3(4)-3 (3) win in the match.
But to be honest the real hero behind Bangladesh win was none other than their goal keeper Jahid Hossain, who not only saved one forced but also forced two Ghana players to shoot wide off the post.
Johnny Botsio put Ghana ahead in the 17th minute but two minutes later Chayan restored the parity.
Chayan struck again in the 21st minute but Akaba Elikem forced the scoreline into 2-2 in the 43rd minute.
Mathew Damalie’s penalty stroke conversion in the 53rd minute took Ghana to verge of victory but Bangladesh’s all out effort saw Jimmy level the score 3-3 in the penalty corner just after the stipulated time of 60 minutes through a penalty corner.
Despite seesaw battle throughout the proceedings, most of the Bangladesh players kept their cool when it matters and in shootout they were definitely better in compare to their rivals.
